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THE LEVELS OF childhood obesity in Ireland is beginning to stabilise, but remain a major cause for concern according to a new survey released by the HSE in collaboration with UCD researchers.
The Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) shows that around one in five children are overweight or obese, more girls than boys are overweight and children attending DEIS schools are far more likely to be overweight or obese.
Minister of State for Health Promotion, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy said that the “unfortunate truth is that we are on course to become the most obese nation in Europe, unless we take action now”.
Worrying trends
This was the fourth time that the COSI survey has been carried out since 2008. As part of this 2015 survey, 4,909 children from 138 participated.
Since 2008, key trends identified in the COSI survey include the levels of overweight and obesity in children aged 6-12 appear to be stabilising, but not for children in DEIS schools.
Furthermore, there is a marked difference across genders with girls tending to be more overweight and obese than boys.
While, as a whole, levels of children being overweight and obese are stabilising, the numbers are still a cause for concern, according to Sarah O’Brien, HSE national lead for the Healthy Eating Active Living Programme.
She said: “While it is positive that the levels of excess weight in children appears to be levelling off over time, it remains at quite a high level – with at least one in five children carrying excess weight that will damage their health both now and into the future.”
Disadvantaged schools
One group of children where the problem of obesity is not stabilising, however, is in those that attend DEIS schools.
Schools operating under DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) are mostly based in urban, more disadvantaged areas.
The report links economic disadvantage with higher levels of children overweight and obese, and this is manifest in its figures.
Children in DEIS schools tend to have higher rates of overweight and obesity, and the gap widens as children get older:
“A significant way to go”
While there are some encouraging signs, we still have “a significant way to go” according to O’Brien.
She referenced the Health Weight for Ireland: Obesity Policy and Action Plan 2016-2025, which was published by government last year.
O’Brien said that the steps proposed in the action plan “require action across multiple sectors” including measures to reduce sugar, fat and salt in food, reduce exposure to marketing of such foods and fiscal measures such as the proposed sugar tax and increasing access to free drinking water in schools.
“In addition to these,” she said, “what we do in our homes, schools and communities to help build healthy habits for all children and families is vital to our efforts to prevent childhood obesity”.
She closed by outlining six habits that children should develop to help maintain a healthy weight into adulthood.
They are:
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Yes…but it’s everyone else’s fault, very little personal responsibility taken and woe betide anyone trying to advise some parents how to feed their precious (not) so little bundles!
@selfsustainable: I blame the government. What are they doing to encourage me to exercise? Maybe if they increased my dole payments depending on how many hours I logged in the gym. They’re too busy lining the fat cats and their own pockets.
@Tweety McTweeter: and I mean why shouldn’t I be entitled to a personal trainer at my neighbour who works full time and pays for their own houses’ expense?!
Then when I again refuse to take personal responsibility I demand a free gastric band paid for by the tax payer . Also free meds for my type 2 diabetes on my medical card. Otherwise how am I supposed to pay for my cigarettes with all the tax they’ve added on to the cost of them?!
@Tweety McTweeter: I’m waiting for some hippo to sue some takeaway for force feeding said hippo their sh!te on a daily basis!
@selfsustainable: Education is the key but the affected people also need to accept that education which in turn needs to be honest about the root cause, sugar and the natural inclination to eat sweet shite. To be human is to have the ability to override instincts but reason has to go hand in hand with that.
@Tweety McTweeter: free vouchers for broccoli and salad as well as free access to a dietician. Only trouble is salad grown in the backyard much tastier than the plastic packaged supermarket stuff. Needs no pesticides or feck all – easy to grow organically. Supermarkets killing people too w constant offers on filler foods.
@Monty Donotno: I wouldn’t blame him he supermarkets, they are selling what people want to buy. It’s all about personal responsibility
@Revolting Peasant: Education my backside. Who doesn’t know that eating junk makes you fat?
@CeannairBlue: coming to a court near you very soon….wait for it!
@Ben McArthur: Come on then smart arse, specifically what type of junk? And tell me about the genetic predisposition that guards against famine, in your own time.
@Tweety McTweeter:
Is that you Wally?
bring in 30 cm wide doors on fast food outlets
No need, cheeky plug http://www.bodycoach.ie and get the hips sorted
@Michael Bodycoach:
Urgh, I think I’ll just get the surgery
@David Cullen: You’ll just have people asking skinny folk to go in for them, much like youngsters getting people to buy them drink.
@Tweety McTweeter: im much cheaper and much healthier!
A 20 ton woman in an a&e dept was heard to be talking on her phone saying “mam Im in hospital. I’m short of breath, Ive a pain across me chest and i cant figure out why. ”
Should be noted that she was scoffing down a mars bar and drinking a bottle of coke at the time which she had purchased from an emergency room vending machine.
#stay classy people
@Maurice Quille:
I hope that is a 20 stone woman, have never come accross a 20 ton person I got a huge shock excuse the pun. Otherwise your spot on,
@ktsiwot: 20 stone may as well be 20ton when you allow yourself to end up like that. Either way you’ll look like a beached whale and expect sympathy because your condition is caused by some mental illness or lack of self confidence.
@Maurice Quille:
You just don’t see it in a hospital, walk down any street in the country it is out of control and a ticking time bomb, 8 year old kids 8 stone, immobile and gorging and that is just the young. This also sees to be connected more with those in a lower socio economic class, that is a generalization but a fair one.
My brotherin law cooked a roast chicken dinner for a team of children ranging from 9 to 12 years of age apart from his own two sons none of them knew what broccoli was none of them had seen asparagus and half of them and never eaten carrots verry scary. They all knew what burger king apache pitza and the chippy was all about though.
@David Harries: what the he’ll is broccoli and carrots? Stop making words up!
Tell Tesco to stop selling 5 doughnuts for a €1.
@Derek o keeffe: but Tesco aren’t holding people at gunpoint and forcing them to buy them….if people stopped buying crap, Tesco and others would stop selling said crap. Just say no. ;)
@selfsustainable: It was a bit of a tongue and cheek comment, everyone knows Superquinn/Supervalue do the best doughnuts.
@Derek o keeffe: soz!
@Derek o keeffe: this guy knows what it’s all about.
@Derek o keeffe:
Tescos do not do cheap veggies. There’s too much profit involved. People go in, first thing on offer is the veggies, they buy loads to make them feel good and healthy. Go home fill up the fridge and then phone for a pizza. End of week veggies go in the bin.
It’s sad but anytime I go abroad to Europe and then return I’m always reminded how fat Irish people are. I don’t think we’re “on course” to be the fattest nation in Europe. I think we’re already there. The proliferation of fast food outlets and convenience stores is the main culprit in my opinion as it makes food and snacking “on the go” so easily available. In other countries, if you felt a tiny bit peckish, you could struggle to find a nearby store to pop into to grab something quick and might just wait until you returned home and cooked something decent. But in Ireland there’s never a Spar or a Centra too far away. Like any substance, the more readily available it is, the more likely it’s open to “abuse”. Our relationship with alcohol doesn’t help either of course!
@Daragh Cassidy: the UK are always ahead on all those fronts – we should be shoe-in for the most obese in the EU after brexit, though.
Ha – yeah all those fat kids must be scoffing the big macs right! Let’s look at the real reasons – 1. Exercise – if you look around most residential areas nowadays, the streets are usually empty, in Dublin anyway. 20 years ago when we were kids we used to actually play outside. We would go out and and see who was “coming out to play” and then we’d be out for the day during the holidays. Now everything has to be supervised and arranged with playdates and other imported Americanisms.
Kids are inside glued to screens because their parents are afraid to let them out unsupervised. Also the growth in car use means playing in the street has been done away with. Everytime something is in the news about reducing car speeds, the blame is always put onto parents and kids – “sure you can’t let kids play in the street” “why are they near the road” “if little timmy gets knocked down it’s his own fault for daring to play outside”
That and being bundled in a car to and from school, has meant a major change even in the 20 years since the 90s which is not that long ago!
Tie in those factors with the fact many households have both parents working, they may not be preparing dinners fresh from scratch every night after a long day. Easy options can take their place.
This all adds up and it’s not a mystery why – but sure blame parents,
cling onto your car – it’s the easy option. We’re good at that here.
@tofu for tea: some great comments below. Even at sporting level we can no longer fill teams at our local club.
@Donnacha Bhoicaire: comments above *
Parent’s responsibility. No one else’s. Allowing your child to become obese is a form of child neglect.
Just don’t have the stuff in the house and they can’t eat it- I have two kids and they would eat sweets and rubbish by the bucket load if it was available to them, but they will eat their dinner including veg if that’s what they’re given. The only solution is to not have junk food available to them(and eat it on the sly in the car instead!!)
Watched a Ch4 TV programme last week about obesity on the Pacific island of Samoa, believed to be the worlds most obese people. Diabetes has risen at a serious rate and life expectency is reduced due to peoples poor eating habits. The programme showed that suger drinks, fatty meat and lack of fresh vegetables in a diet is having a negative affect on people of all ages regardless of exercise.
hang on that’s a silly idea
i’m sure we could tax ourselves thin
Keep her lit lads, we can do this!!!
Or politicians are onto it… why not make roads more dangerous for cyclists, so that fat kids can drive faster to the gym? Also we should normalise pub culture, alcoholism and gambling, so that children grow up in depressed environments and become insular, lazy and dependant on takeaways rather than confident, outgoing and able to cycle everywhere. Yeah, that’s working… and ironically, what commentators on here support.
@Gulliver Foyle: in fairness you don’t need to cycle to be healthy! Kids are indoors more these days than outdoors and that’s down to bad parenting not because they can’t cycle anywhere safely. Plenty of parks and outdoor areas to get out and about but some parents prefer to plonk their kids on a sofa with an ipad or something firmly attached to their little hands. It is not societies job to raise another’s child if all that is needed is a little proper parenting! How on earth did our parents manage to raise us without their hands been held at all.
@selfsustainable: I guess as most parents spend the day in front of their iPhone, the kids just follow suit. The closest rebellion against parents nowadays is to download 9gag or go on 4chan. Sad.
@Gulliver Foyle: I think I’d rather be fat than a whiny entitled **** of a cyclist.
@CeannairBlue: You probably are fat,tubby!
Few of the posters on here having a go at disadvantaged children, you also forget that while little Jacinta and Damo may get pizza’s and chips thrown at them for dinner, you forget that little Feidhlim and Éabha are getting driven around in the back of a 171-D Donnybrook tractor, aka the Land Rover Evoque, at least the poorer kids walk everywhere!
We’re a jolly nation.
I think a lot of people think they arent getting big, putting on weight, in denial about it. I was one of them, at one stage I went from about 13 stone, to far North of 16/17 stone. But I just kept saying the scales was wrong, until I saw a picture of myself at a wedding and thought F**K!! You have let yourself go.
And it was all down to a rubbish diet and little exercise. Back down to 14 and all down to a decent diet and exercise everyday.
@Derek o keeffe: fair play, but you don’t even need to exercise. I lost 3.5 stone over the last couple of years solely through eating well and eating less. I exercise now of course because I don’t feel so heavy!
@Alan: I’ve gone from 18 Stone 4 pound to 14 stone 2 pound in 15 months, by carefully monitoring what I eat. It’s now a habit for me. My goal is to get to 12 to 13 stone, and I expect to be there perhaps by the end of this year or early next year. But, as I have lost the weight I am more inclined to move around and be more active. Cholesterol completely under control (did not want to go on meds), hope to be soon off blood pressure medicine (it’s almost too low now) and glucose numbers are well in range.
Plus, now buying new clothes and donating everything in the closet.
It’s all up to the individual.
The guy in the photo is eating a subway, isn’t that the healthy option?
@Government Sachs: only 4-5 subs are healthy. A meatball marinara, nutritionally is twice as bad as a big mac
@Government Sachs:
Love Subways. Italian bread, salami, pepperoni, melted cheese, pickles, jalapeños, green peppers, red onion.
Mmm!
@Jack Cassady: ” pickles, jalapeños, green peppers, red onion”
Four of my 5-a-day, that’s some healthy stuff right there.
@Government Sachs: It’s easy it is to lose weight by simply eating a diet of Subway sandwiches and having aides. Aides for Everyone!
One in 5 children are born to parents who think it’s ok to feed your kids from the centra deli counter. It’s a breeding issue is all. Nothing the state can do.
Not buying it. Next they’ll be telling us we drink too much as well. #flabisfab
The cost to the state will be overwhelming in years to come ,we at present have a very ageing population ,I am afraid this all starts in the home ,then a school system that is more exam result driven ,too much emphasis is put on the academic side ,lots of our young people cant even cook a healthy meal ,or look after simple home finances ,we are getting it wrong ,The only way to break this is to build strong local communities with the emphasis on outdoor activity ,the gaa grounds are laying empty most of the week ,but out door activity centers should be built into the school week along with cooking classes ,we have to start somewhere ,it will cost us all a fortune if nothing is done
Brought the kids to micky ds today for a treat. Afterwards we ran around the park with the dogs. Moderation folks.
I guess all these fatties live on the North Side…?
I am always surprised – as a US expat in dublin for a decade – how few fat children I see… I have kids in two different schools (8 and 10 years old) and there’s never been a single fat kid in any of their classes…
So… North Side thing?
Hold on. All I’m told is the Gubberment are making Ireland a 3rd world country and our kids our going to school hungry and living in poverty?
Something doesn’t add up here. All part of the con artists scamming the system blaming the goverment for everything and looking for more handouts to drink gamble and smoke
We are a horrible nation of me feiners who blame everyone except ourselves for our situations.
@James Nellie: umm… poor kids tend to eat more garbage and be overweight… more fat kids = more poor kids… this isn’t the middle ages where fat = rich.
the Irish rugby team advertise chocolate and beer……
@Ken Pepper: You can make stout with chocolate?
But they’ll be “body positive” as they eat themselves into an early grave.
You didn’t show the guy eating an apple before you swooped in and took this, did you?? Selective photography……
With you on the sleep thing.
I say to them. “Go back to bed, it’s 6 o’clock on Sunday morning.” but they want to “play” and “have breakfast”. You can’t win.
But they aren’t porkers.
@Damocles: Always the weekends, never up early on a school morning though. Crafty little so and so’s.
Obesity is a business. Fighting it is useless, you can’t win with capitalism.
BUT IT’S SO ”EMPOWERING” TO LET IT ALL HANG OUT !!!!
No exercise and lazy parents buying pre packed food. Generally kids are driven everywhere
Denmark banned Trans fats in 2006.
Switzerland banned Trans fats in 2009
Argentina banned Trans fats in 2015
US to ban trans fats from 2018 …
Ireland …still counting trolleys
.. Completely reverse Diabetes Type 2 by ban on Trans Fast in your diet. Not easy but essential for your health. Eat natural fat which your insulin expects to find on your cell walls! A fistful of walnuts per day.
The less well off children are fed a less well off diet. A healthy diet coupled with healthy exercise produces in most cases healthy children. Tackle the reasons will tackle the problem.
There is a healthy weight and an unhealthy weight but many of these experts are over paranoid about weight as being skinny does not mean healthy and being fat does not mean your unhealthy as there is good fat under the skin and bad fat around all the organs???
Never go by looks to know who is healthy or not?
Does this not fall into jugding people on how they look?
So all the “body shamming” and “relentless pressure” on women/girls to look thin is obviously a load of crap. Pity it doesn’t actually work because right now Irish women are a disgrace -most are fat/borderline obese.
Oh… who cares… there are far more important things to worry about a
That is the 3rd secret of Fatima I am fat….working on Hectors expression now “keep her lit….anagram of Hitler but doubt if the Meathman has guts to tackle Hitlers legacy…..weird
State owned gyms, school provided lunches, sugar and fast food tax.
When I went to school we had PE only twice a well for a half hour. That should be increased for a start to every day. It’s a well known fact that kids are more receptive when they are exercising regularly so change needs to start at home and school. Luckily my school only allowed one treat on a Friday but this is not the case in a lot of schools. 1 in 5 kids being overweight by age 12 is an outrageous figure and the kids aren’t to blame.
Do we win a trophy if we get to the top
have your say