Childhood obesity rates in Wigan better than before coronavirus pandemic

The Obesity Health Alliance said every child deserves to grow up healthy, regardless of their circumstances. It urged the Government to incentivise companies to produce healthier products and restrict children from being "bombarded with manipulative advertising".

After years of seeing rates going alarmingly up, NHS Digital figures show 835 of 3,595 Year 6 pupils measured in Wigan were classed as obese or severely obese in 2022-23.

It meant 23.2 per cent of 10 and 11-year-olds were in the highest two BMI categories as they prepared to leave primary school.

This was down from 24.6 per cent the year before and below pre-pandemic levels of 23.9 per cent in 2019-20.

Across England, 22.7 per cent of Year 6 pupils were obese or severely obese – down on the 23.4 per cent recorded the year previous, but still above pre-pandemic figures.

The data comes from the Government's annual National Child Measurement Programme which records the height and weight of Year 6 and reception-age children in state-maintained schools to monitor obesity trends.

Katharine Jenner, director of the OHA, said: "All children have a right to grow up healthy, regardless of their circumstances."

Ms Jenner added people want easy, healthy options, and said if the Government was to incentivise companies to produce healthier products and restrict advertising financially, "it will have a disproportional benefit on those struggling to get by, freeing them from the harm caused by unhealthy food and drink".

Ms Jenner also highlighted the divide between rich and poor, with children living in the most deprived areas (30.2 per cent) more than twice as likely to be obese as those living in the least deprived (13.1 per cent).

Dr Mike McKean, vice-president for policy at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said overweight children – of which two in five leave primary school – have a higher risk of chronic illnesses, mental health issues, and lower life expectancy.

He said the disparity between children living in deprived and affluent areas is "unacceptable,” adding: "To have these children at such a disadvantage before even starting secondary school is a national disgrace."

The Government aims to cut childhood obesity rates in half by 2030, but Dr McKean said the root cause is poverty and deprivation, which "are robbing our children of a healthy adulthood before they even start school".

He urged the Government to expand free school meals, increase financial support during the cost-of-living crisis, implement a junk-food marketing watershed ban, and introduce mandatory guidelines on sugar and salt in baby foods.

The Department for Health and Social Care said it is committed to halving childhood obesity rates in 2030.

A government spokesperson said: "We have already brought in measures to reduce the amount of sugar and salt in foods, particularly those aimed at children and our soft drinks industry levy has nearly halved the amount of sugar in soft drinks, while the sugar reduction programme has significantly reduced the amount of sugar in foods popular with children – including breakfast cereals and yoghurts."By investing £320m a year in school sports we are promoting healthier lifestyles through physical activity and through schemes like Healthy Start, which encourage a healthy diet for families from lower-income households."