Children get £6m help to fight the flab

OVERWEIGHT children and their families are to be targeted in a £6 million programme to tackle Scotland's obesity crisis.

The Scottish Government announced yesterday that health boards would be given the cash over three years to set up weight-treatment programmes aimed at those aged five to 15.

Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, said the money would help at least 20,000 overweight and obese children.

She told a summit in Edinburgh the cash was part of efforts to tackle health inequalities. She said the programmes would be "family-focused" and encourage overweight children to learn about the importance of healthy eating and physical activity. She said they would also address the psychological, social and behavioural causes of weight gain.

Figures have shown more than a fifth of children in Primary 1 are overweight.

The Scottish Government said it would be down to individual health boards to decide how to target the children who would benefit most.

Boards will also have to decide how the programmes will run, but the Scottish Government said they would be likely to include cooking lessons, consultations with dieticians and sessions that aimed to make exercise more enjoyable.

Ms Sturgeon said: "While the growing problem of obesity – and in particular childhood obesity – is affecting all sectors of society more and more, we know that the health impacts can be a particular problem in deprived areas.

"Chronic health conditions associated with obesity, such as coronary heart disease, are more prevalent in deprived communities. Yet, it is those in less affluent areas who are more likely to find it difficult to access affordable, healthy food and have opportunities to be active."

Experts from around the world are gathering in Edinburgh this week to discuss work to tackle health inequalities.

Tam Fry, from the Child Growth Foundation, welcomed the extra funding for obesity.

But he went on: "If it is not done sensitively and does not involve the whole family, it could be a waste of money. It is important that the family is the centre of this kind of approach and that they are all involved when embarking on a programme of weight loss.

If you go in, in an authoritarian manner you alienate the parents and the whole thing fails.

"This has been shown to be the case with previous attempts. Parents become defensive when they are being told what to do. We have to work with them to help children."

Mr Fry also criticised the suggestion that the Scottish Government is to drop a target for schoolchildren to get at least two hours' physical education a week. "It seems to be a case of giving with one hand and taking away with the other. Any reduction in PE is appalling."

But the independent MSP Margo MacDonald said the target could never have been met because of a lack of specialised teachers and school facilities.

She said: "What they can do is go back to square one and identify a number of objectives, such as some physical form of activity for every school pupil every day." She suggested children "power walk" in school grounds or school hall three times a week.

The Scottish Government said councils had asked for the two-hour target to be ditched. "However, we are not going to allow this to happen unless we are convinced there are alternatives which are better at delivering fitter, healthier young people," a spokeswoman said.

GROWING PROBLEM

CONCERN about childhood obesity in Scotland has grown in recent years.

Last year, figures revealed 21 per cent of all Primary 1 children were overweight: 8.8 per cent were classed as obese and 4.3 per cent as severely obese.

The figures were higher still in deprived areas, with 22.5 per cent of Primary 1 children overweight: 9.9 per cent were obese, and 5.5 per cent severely obese.

In February, a Scottish Government report showed children under the age of two were regularly getting sugary foods and drinks as an established part of their diet. There was also a strong link between poor eating habits and deprivation.

The study found 66 per cent of children whose mothers had no qualifications ate sweets and chocolate once a day or more – but only 37 per cent of those whose mothers had Higher grades or above had such foods daily.

But Scotland's obesity problems are not confined to children. Last month, it was revealed that the cost of drugs to tackle Scotland's obesity crisis had shot up by hundreds of thousands of pounds in the past year – the latest annual NHS bill for prescriptions for obesity treatments was £4.89 million.