Barking and Dagenham has the highest obesity rate among 10 and 11-year-olds in England, new figures reveal, as a senior health leader said the extent of childhood obesity in deprived areas was “a national disgrace”.
Analysis of NHS data published on Thursday shows that nearly a third (31.7 per cent) of Year 6 children in Barking and Dagenham are obese, the highest figure of any region in England.
It is more than three times the figure reported in Richmond upon Thames, which had the lowest obesity rate in England. Newham (29.9 per cent) had the second highest rate in the capital, followed by Westminster (28.6 per cent).
When obesity and overweight figures are taken together, 45.4 per cent of Year 6 children in Barking and Dagenham are above a healthy weight.
Obesity costs the NHS around £6.5 billion a year and significantly increases the risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases and diabetes. Health chiefs fear that a failure to tackle obesity in children will place the health service under severe pressure in future.
Three boroughs in London feature among the top ten areas with the highest rates of obesity, laying bare the scale of the challenge facing health bosses to improve the health of children in the capital.
Nearly a quarter of children (24.8 per cent) in Year 6 were obese in London, a drop of one per cent on the year before. It is the third highest figure of any region in England, behind the North East (25.8 per cent) and the West Midlands (25.2 per cent).
Overall, children living in the most deprived areas of England are twice as likely to be obese as those in the most affluent regions.
Obesity levels were 30.2 per cent in the most deprived, compared with 13.1 per cent in the least deprived.
One in 50 children in London are now starting secondary school underweight, the highest figure of any region. The figure was higher in Harrow, where one in 27 children aged 10 and 11 were below a healthy weight.
Dr Mike McKean, vice director for policy at the Royal College of Paedatrics and Children’s Health, said of the figures: “It is unacceptable that children living in deprived areas are twice as likely to be overweight than those in more affluent areas. Today’s data shows that 2 in 5 children are leaving primary school overweight and are subsequently at a higher risk of chronic illnesses, mental health issues and even a shorter life span. To have these children at such a disadvantage before even starting secondary school is a national disgrace.”
He added that a rise in the number of children attending school underweight was “deeply disturbing”.
“This is a horrifying, yet maybe not all too surprising development. Afterall, food insecurity is a regular occurrence for low-income households in the UK, with one in four households with children affected. Food banks are overwhelmed with the level of demand and teachers regularly tell us that they see children coming into school hungry.”
The Government’s food tsar Henry Dimbleby resigned last March after claiming that the Tories’ “ultra-free-market ideology” was preventing them from taking action to fix the obesity crisis.
Ministers have faced criticism for delaying plans to ban the promotion of buy-one-get-one-free deals on junk food until 2025.
Preet Kaur Gill MP, Labour's Shadow Primary Care and Public Health Minister, said: “We need decisive action to tackle the childhood obesity crisis. It is a disgrace that almost a quarter of children are obese by the time they leave primary school. Excess weight has lasting consequences on children's health and will cost the NHS billions.”
The Department of Health and Social Care was approached for comment.
