Childhood obesity levels have dropped back in line with pre-Covid trends, official data suggested today.
Over one in five youngsters (22.9 per cent) who started school in September 2021 were overweight or obese in England.
This was down from nearly three in 10 (27.7 per cent) the year before, which was an ‘unprecedented’ rise and blamed on the knock-on effects of closing schools.
Experts called today’s update ‘good news’, after obesity levels reach all-time highs last year after successive Covid lockdowns.
Rates also dropped in overweight children, reducing from 40.9 per cent to 37.8 per cent.
The measure for the Year 6 age group, which is only a preliminary estimate, is still up on levels recorded before Covid.But younger age groups are now below previous marks.
It comes after a study yesterday revealed the number of healthy children choosing to diet has tripled in the last two decades.
An Oxford University study discovered more than a quarter of children are on diets, including those of a healthy weight.
NHS Digital data shows Just over one in five youngsters (22.9 per cent) who started school in September 2021 were overweight or obese in England.This was down from nearly three in 10 (27.7 per cent) the year before
A similar drop in the proportion of older children who are either overweight or obese, dropping from 40.9 per cent to 37.8 per cent
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows the number of obese or morbidly obese children starting or finishing primary school fell in May 2022 in England
Obesity is still more prevalent in boys than girls across both age groups.For reception-age children this year, 10.6 per cent of boys were obese compared to 10.2 per cent of girls. Among year 6 pupils, 26.5 per cent of boys were obese compared to 20.3 per cent of girls
Graph shows: The proportion of children in Reception and Year 6 that are underweight, healthy weight, overweight, daftar slot online obese and severely obese as of May 2022