Obesity rates have risen in London primary schools (Stock image)
(Picture: PA Archive)One in four London children in their final year of primary school are now obese, figures show, with rates climbing sharply in some of the capital’s most deprived areas.
An NHS Digital report shows that 25.8 per cent of Year 6 children in the capital are now obese, compared with a national average of 23.4 per cent.
Obesity rates varied greatly in different boroughs of the capital, the statistics showed. Nearly a third of year 6 pupils in Barking and Dagenham were obese (33.2 per cent) compared with 12.8 per cent in Richmond upon Thames.
The overall London figure for the age group has jumped by 2.5 per cent since pre-pandemic levels. London has the third highest rate of all regions in England, behind the North East (26.6 per cent) and the West Midlands (26.2 per cent). The South West had the lowest rate, at 19.8 per cent.
The figures lay bare the extent of health inequality in England, with children in the poorest areas twice as likely to be obese as those living in the most affluent areas. Nearly a third (31.3 per cent) of year 6 children in deprived areas were obese, compared to 13.5 per cent in the least deprived areas.
The rate of obesity among year 6 children living in urban areas was found to be 4.8 per cent higher than in towns and 6.7 per cent higher than in rural areas, according to the figures.
Separate figures showed that one in ten (10.8 per cent) London children in Reception were obese. This is up by 0.6 per cent on pre-pandemic levels.
London also had the highest percentage of year 6 children classified as underweight in England, at 1.7 per cent.
But the overall data for England, which has been finalised after initial publication in July, showed a drop in childhood obesity compared to high levels during the pandemic.
When it comes to year 6, obesity in children rose from 19 per cent in 2010/11 to 21 per cent in 2019/20 and then increased to 25.5 per cent in 2020/21. This has dropped back to 23.4 per cent in 2021/22.
It comes amid growing calls to expand the Free School Meals scheme in England to all children in households on Universal Credit to help improve child nutrition.
Around 210,000 pupils in London and 800,000 in England live in households that rely on Universal Credit but miss out on free school meals.
Health experts have warned that children will be more susceptible to cancer and infectious diseases without action to improve nutrition and combat hunger.
Last month, leading paediatricians and nutritionists told the Standard that children would be more susceptible to cancer and infectious diseases without “urgent” action to ensure they eat a more nutritious diet at school.
Dr Michael McKean, a consultant respiratory paediatrician and vice president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said that children who eat a poor diet are “more likely to suffer an illness needing NHS treatment” later in life and this would “cost society more money” in the long run.
