More than a quarter of reception-age children in Nottingham were obese or overweight in 2021/22, new data shows, while almost half of Year Six pupils in the city were also in that category. In both cases, the rate of obesity was higher in the city than the national average for England and the rest of Nottinghamshire.
The statistics, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that for Nottingham, 25.5 percent of children aged four to five were classed as overweight or obese, compared to 23 percent across Nottinghamshire and 22.3 percent across England. Whereas for children aged 10 to 11, 44.8 percent were found to be overweight or obese in Nottingham.
This is significantly higher than the national average of 37.8 percent, and the rate across Nottinghamshire was less than the national average at 37.6 percent. Only Ashfield and Mansfield came close to the city's high rate, with 42.3 and 41.5 percent of their year sixes being classed as overweight or obese respectively.
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Lucy Hubber, Director of Public Health at Nottingham City Council said: “Giving children the healthiest start in life is really important. Being overweight or obese can impact on educational achievement, mental health and wellbeing, as well as being linked to serious disease, such as diabetes or heart disease later in life.
“We recognise the number of children living with obesity or being overweight is an issue both nationally and locally. In Nottingham, one-in-four children is overweight or obese when they start primary school, which then rises to two-in-five when they start secondary school.
“What children eat and drink, and how often they exercise, is vitally important for their health and wellbeing. However, we understand this is a complex issue and many people experience multiple barriers and challenges to eating and moving for good health."
Lucy continued: "Eating and Moving for Good Health has been identified as a priority by the Nottingham City Joint Health and Wellbeing Board. A wide range of partners, including representatives from Nottingham City schools, have come together to work towards ensuring ours is a city that makes it easier for adults, families, children and young people to lead healthy lives."
Founder of Fit 4 Everybody, Sara Lomas, runs fitness and activity classes for children aged from 1 to 16 in West Bridgford. Speaking about the importance of keeping children fit and healthy, she said: "It is so important to create healthy habits from the get-go.
"These habits will then last a lifetime. The less inactive a child is, the less likely it is for them to be inactive as an adult, and vice versa.
"Child obesity is a growing problem. In the same way we make sure children eat enough meals, drink enough fluid, and get enough sleep – we must also make sure they get enough daily active minutes to keep them healthy. Crucially I think we need to change the nation’s mindset from thinking about exercise as an activity and realising that all activity is exercise."
Sara continued: "Children by nature are copy-cats. It’s up to us to be the best role models we can and show them how to stay healthy. Exercising as a family is a brilliant way to teach children how to have fun staying active.
"This doesn’t mean we all have to take up fitness regimes, it just means ensuring we incorporate active time into our lifestyles, such as walking to the park together. I run games and activity classes for children from as young as 15 months up to 16 years and all they’re thinking about is how much fun they are having.
"As a result, they get increased strength, co-ordination, balance, cardiovascular fitness, endurance, motor skills, better concentration, better sleep patterns, joint stability, boosted metabolism, healthier bones and muscles. This can all be achieved as a by-product of choosing more active ways to have fun. We can fight child obesity by giving children more opportunity to play in more physically energetic ways."
Whilst Nottingham has a higher rate of children obese or overweight, Nottinghamshire County Council is also working on the national problem across the rest of the county. John Wilcox, Senior Public Health and Commissioning Manager for the county council, said: "Across Nottinghamshire, we continue to work hard to get our obesity levels among school-aged children below the national average but we’re aware that obesity figures remain high in some of the county’s most deprived areas.
"We want our children to have the right balance of getting good nutrition and food that is cost effective but also doing physical activities that increase their energy levels and are enjoyable. The County Council fund the FAB (Food activity and balance) programme which is run by Your Health Your Way, aims to support eligible families to help them live a healthier and nutritious lifestyle.”
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