Concerns over growing childhood obesity crisis

The latest figures from NHS England show that almost 700 children under 16 were admitted to hospital because of obesity before the coronavirus pandemic – the second highest number on record.

Child health experts warned last month that the coronavirus lockdown could lead to a rise in obesity for a generation of children with a lack of exercise potentially leading to weight gain for many of them.
 
Russell Viner, who leads the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and is on the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said, ‘We need to get kids back to school as soon as we can for their health. Everybody in the nutritional world is concerned.'

He added, 'We talk endlessly about the risks of transmission of Covid, and that's incredibly important, but it's not the only thing.

'The risk-balance equation for children is about the risks of not being in school and poor mental health, poor sleep and potentially lack of exercise and obesity.'

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s shadow health and social care secretary, is calling on the prime minister to stop backsliding on obesity and implement a radical obesity plan to: