Fighting the flab in five-year-olds

Jan 9 2009 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A FREE scheme to combat obesity in children as young as five is to be tested in Huddersfield.

The scheme, called Mend – Mind, Exercise, Nutrition...Do it! – is a programme for overweight children and their parents, designed to make their lifestyles healthier and help kids lose weight.

Kirklees Council’s Physical Activity Development Team will be running Mend for five to seven-year-olds from January 26.

It is one of several councils piloting the scheme with a view to it being expanded nationwide after this year.

The Kirklees team already runs a 10-week Mend course for seven to 13-year-olds as part of the existing 48-week Young Pals anti-obesity programme.

But the team decided to try it out on younger children in the hope of teaching them good eating and exercise habits early.

Co-ordinator Emma Schofield said Young Pals currently get regular referrals of children as young as five suffering from obesity.

School nurses screen children in reception classes to see if any are at risk of obesity.

Ms Schofield said: “If you get to the problem early the education sticks longer and prevents serious obesity later. Statistics show that a lot of five-year-olds are overweight.

“It is to do with activity levels and diet. Children aren’t exercising as much as they used to.

“They used to play out a lot, but lots don’t now; they sit at computers instead. It is a whole lifestyle change and it has become the norm for children to be overweight.’’