Almost a quarter of P1 pupils in South Lanarkshire are at risk of being overweight or obese.
New figures published by Public Health Scotland revealed that 22.6 per cent of last year’s P1 pupils were at risk of being overweight or obese – the highest on record.
Reference height and weight measurements were taken from 2447 pupils in the 2019-20 school year and 552 were found to have a BMI higher than expected for their age.
Of those, 249 (10.2 per cent) were at risk of being obese.
And that means 303 (12.4%) were also at risk of being overweight.
Data published by Public Health Scotland goes back to 2000-01 and since 2010-11, when a record 81.4 per cent of pupils were a healthy weight, the numbers at risk of being overweight or obese have been increasing.
However, P1 pupils at risk of being underweight fell to a record low of 0.9 per cent last year.
With schools closed again following an increase in coronavirus cases, health care and education professionals face new challenges in trying to help children maintain a healthy weight.
Jonathan Cavana, NHS Lanarkshire’s weight management service manager, said: “Maintaining a healthy weight throughout childhood is associated with many health benefits.
“As a result, encouraging children and young people to adopt healthier lifestyles through active play and healthier diets, continues to be a key priority for NHS Lanarkshire and our partners.
“We are working to offer a package of services which are based on a sustainable approach to the long-term prevention of unhealthy weight gain in childhood.
“The aim is to support children and their families to make positive lifestyle choices related to food and exercise which will help them to achieve and maintain a healthy weight now and into adulthood.
“Current Covid restrictions have resulted in the suspension of a majority of our community-based child healthy lifestyle services. However, the NHS Lanarkshire Healthy Schools approach has allowed us to continue to support teachers to deliver health and wellbeing education through a Curriculum for Excellence.
“There are lots of fun activities available for families to stay active and connected while at home.”
Visit www.bit.do/lan-greenspace for a range of activities.
Across Scotland, 22.8 per cent of P1 pupils were at risk of being overweight or obese while just one per cent were at risk of being underweight.
Reference heights and weights were taken from less pupils last year as a result of the UK-wide coronavirus lockdown in March and, as a result, figures for North Lanarkshire were unavailable.
