A quarter of Irish nine-year-olds are either overweight or obese, according to a report launched this morning.
It found girls were more likely to be overweight than boys and that children from unskilled manual working class households were significantly more likely to be obese or overweight compared to children from professional households.
Growing Up in Ireland: The National Longitudinal Study of Children examined over 8,500 nine-year-olds. It carried out interviews with the children and their parents as well as measuring their height and weight.
Results of the findings on overweight and obesity among nine-year-olds were launched by Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald and Minister for Health James Reilly this morning in Dublin.
The report said 26 per cent of children had a body mass index outside the healthy range and 7 per cent were obese.
But both children and their parents underestimated the problem. Over half of parents of overweight children and 20 per cent of those with obese children said their child was “about the right weight” for their height. And four out of five of the children who were overweight said they were “about the right weight”.
Mothers who were overweight were also less likely to perceive that their child was overweight.
The report also examined the findings on exercise in children. It found girls did less light exercise than boys, but boys watched more television and both factors had an affect on their weight. On average, boys who watched more than three hours of TV per night were over four times more likely to be obese than boys who watched an hour or less.
Availability of food in a local area was found to be a significant factor in the quality of children’s diets.
Speaking at the launch, report co-author Prof Richard Layte said the further away from a supermarket a family lived, the worse their diet was and poorer areas tended to have less access to supermarkets and contained more takeaways. He said government policy needed to look at incentivising better diet.
He also suggested that GPs or practice nurses should weigh children when they make a routine visit to help raise awareness of their weight. But he warned that this should be done carefully to avoid self-esteem issues.
Ms Fitzgerald said the issue of childhood obesity would have to be addressed in a “cross-government, cross-societal and multi-faceted” way.
As part of this, she would be establishing a new nationwide play and recreation network to bring together local authority play and recreation officers to advise on further developments and help promote participation, she said.
Ms Fitzgerald said she is in talks with Minister for Housing Willie Penrose about overhauling planning laws to halt hot food takeaways from opening near schools.
“We are in discussions with the Department of Environment to see if our planning regulations can be changed to ensure that in decisions about the location of fast food outlets, if there is proximity to a school, that that should be a reason to think again about whether or not it should get planning permission,” she said.
Ms Fitzgerald said the proposals were similar to measures introduced in the UK and were being taken seriously.
Councils across England and Wales have imposed so-called “no fry zones” outlawing chip shops and burger bars from opening within 400 yards of any school, youth club or park, in recent years.
Additional reporting: PA
