EFFORTS to tackle obesity in Scottish children have stagnated with virtually no progress over the past decade, new figures show.
A report by Cancer Research UK found 15 per cent of the 60,000 pupils who began primary school in 2014/15 were overweight - just one percentage point better than in 2005/06.
Over the past ten years a total of 83,000 children have started primary school either overweight or obese.
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Scotland already has one of the heaviest populations in Europe with two in three adults overweight or obese.
Health campaigners fear that, unless action is taken, there will be crippling consequences for society and health services, with the cost of obesity to the NHS in Scotland already estimated at £600 million a year.
Cancer Research UK is now calling on the Scottish Government to take action to do more to tackle Scotland’s wider obesity challenges.
Restricting billboard advertising of unhealthy food and drinks and action towards fewer supermarket multi-buy discounts are among a comprehensive range of measures the charity wants to see introduced.
Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s cancer prevention expert, based at Stirling University, said: “It is really very worrying that children as young as four-years-old are entering primary school carrying too much weight.
“We should be concerned too about the picture this paints for the health of the nation as we know that obese children are around five times more likely to become obese adults.
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“Obesity is also linked to 13 types of cancer including bowel, breast and pancreatic. If left unchecked, we run the risk of obesity becoming a crippling burden on society and the NHS.”
Also supporting the campaign is Inverurie nurse and mother-of-three Kirsty Thomasson, 33, who was, until recently, very overweight.
She began a diet to reduce her weight from 13 stone after her trousers burst at the seams while she was at a soft play centre with her three young children. She is now 9 stone 4lb.
She said: “I think advertising does influence what you buy, that’s why the junk food companies invest in it. If I saw a poster for a sugary snack, or an advert on TV, then it would definitely have encouraged me to put a particular biscuit or a fizzy drink in my shopping basket.
“I think we are all so busy, and we’re bombarded with adverts for junk food all the time, that Scotland has become a fast food nation.
“As a nurse, I see the awful consequences of what obesity can do to your health all the time. I think it’s awful that so many children now are obese and it’s about time we all took responsibility and did something about it.”
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Public health minister Aileen Campbell said the Scottish Government was committed to improving the nation’s health.
She said: “Many of these indicators are static, or not improving as quickly as we want.”
She added: “This government is committed to bringing forward new strategies for obesity, mental health, oral health and alcohol.
“We also remain committed to introducing minimum unit pricing to tackle the damage which high strength low cost alcohol causes in our communities.”
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