Towns with England’s fattest children revealed

The London borough of Barking and Dagenham has the highest proportion of fat year six children.

The east London area tops the list with 30 per cent classed as obese compared to 20 per cent across the rest of England.

While the national average has continued to creep up year on year, Leeds has become the first city in the UK to buck this trend.

Brent in north west London and Sandwell in the West Midlands come in joint second with 28 per cent of their year six kids classed as obese.

They’re followed by Newham, also in east London, at 27 per cent, Wolverhampton in West Midlands at 26.8 per cent and Tower Hamlets, east London at 26.7 per cent.

The figures come from the NHS National Child measurement programme, which measures children’s weight at year six and reception ages.

A study presented at the European Congress of Obesity in Glasgow this week showed 40,000 premature deaths could be avoided in the UK if obesity was eliminated by 2030.

Researchers from insulin production company Novo Nordisk say that in a world with no obesity at all, deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes in the UK would fall by 31 per cent.

While people tend to die from these diseases in adulthood, children who are obese are much more likely to stay obese as they grow up.

Brent has the highest proportion of obese children in reception at 14.7 per cent, followed by Kowsley, Merseyside at 14 per cent, compared to 9.5 per cent average in England.

The towns are followed by Kingston upon Hull at 13.7 per cent, St Helens, Merseyside at 13.2 per cent and Barking and Dagenham and Wolverhampton both at 13.1 per cent.

Lisa McNally, Sandwell’s director of public health told Metro.co.uk: ‘Childhood obesity is a national problem that particularly affects economically disadvantaged groups.

‘A range of factors influence childhood obesity and we are addressing as many as we can.

‘Through an innovative use of planning policy, we are now working to reduce the number of takeaways situated near schools, as well as working with caterers to improve the range of healthy options on offer.’

The council’s Eat Out Eat Well awards seek to praise businesses offering healthier options.

Ms McNally acknowledged working with schools is key and says the council has been speaking with school meals providers to get them to lower their sugar content.

She says the council is providing small grants for cooking, food growing and PE initiatives and is providing parenting classes and health promotion campaigns to encourage healthy lifestyles.

While overall childhood obesity rates keep on rising every year, Leeds has become the first UK city to report a fall.

Research by Oxford University showed that over the past four years, obesity among the city’s children has fallen from 9.4 to 8.8 per cent with a 6.4 per cent fall among reception children.

Much of the credit goes to national charity HENRY (Health Exercise Nutrition for the Really Young) which has been working in the city since 2009 to help parents instil healthy lifestyles from a very early age.

A Barking and Dagenham says it is working with families and schools through HENRY but recognises ‘there is a lot to do to reverse this complex issue.’

The council says it was the first in the country to restrict fast food restaurants from opening too close to schools.

A Wolverhampton City Council spokesman said it was adopting the similar strategies and is working with pregnant women, parents and children through to eat more healthily and stay physically active.