Research published today shows that the rates of childhood overweight and obesity in Irish children of primary-school age have levelled off, and may be beginning to fall, but one in four remains overweight or obese.

Although the findings provide some ground for cautious optimism, the researchers point out that the current level is unacceptably high, and childhood overweight and obesity will have to remain an urgent priority for public policy for the foreseeable future.

It also shows that the prevalence of overweight and obesity is higher in girls.

According to Prof Ivan Perry, head of the department of epidemiology and public health at University College Cork (UCC), “at one level it’s reassuring that the prevalence rate of increase has apparently slowed down, but it is obviously still concerning that the rates have not yet begun to fall”. While it is unlikely that we will get back to the lower levels of the 1970s and 1980s, Perry says he hopes to see some fall in childhood overweight and obesity rates over the next few years.

During the last three decades of the 20th century, a two- to three-fold increase in the rate of overweight and obesity in school-age children was reported across north America and western Europe.

It was estimated that by 2000 between 25 per cent and 33 per cent of children in many developed countries would be overweight and obese, and that obesity rates would continue to rise in the future.

Recent studies

However, recent studies have indicated that rates in developed countries may be starting to stabilise. To find out whether these trends were reflected in the Republic of Ireland, researchers from UCC and University College Dublin conducted a systematic review of childhood overweight and obesity rates in children of primary-school age between 2002 and 2012.

The review also looked at morbid obesity rates in children in the Republic for the first time.

Analysing data from 14 studies conducted during that decade, the researchers found that childhood overweight rates had remained stable, but national obesity rates dropped from a constant 7 per cent to 4 per cent after 2008. One in 50 children was shown to be morbidly obese, but there was no significant change in the prevalence of morbid obesity over the decade.

The study, which was funded by the National Children's Research Centre, is published today in the open-access journal BMC Public Health.

Its lead author, Eimear Kane of UCC, says it is not acceptable for overweight and obesity rates to plateau indefinitely as they should be expected to decline.

She highlights the need for current obesity recommendations and policies to be intensified, and for population-based programmes to start to reduce overweight and obesity.

Interventions

To date few childhood obesity interventions have been implemented in this country so interventions are unlikely to explain why childhood overweight and obesity rates may be stabilising.

Recent interventions have targeted specific populations such as the morbidly obese or specific behaviours associated with obesity including fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity or screen time.

“What we have come through is unknown in the history of humankind to date. Since the mid-1980s and really accelerating into the 1990s, the global epidemic of obesity has affected adults and children in virtually every country in the world.

“The underlying drivers of this epidemic are so numerous, so complex and so deeply embedded into our lives – our food, physical exercise and culture – that a fall in overweight and obesity rates won’t happen by itself; there will have to be a really sustained policy response to this problem,” says Perry.

Describing the obesity epidemic as “global fattening”, Perry notes that it is driven to some extent by the same underlying forces driving global warming: the use of cheap oil, an oversupply of cheap calories into the system and reduced opportunities for physical exercise.

Another issue emerging from the research is social inequality, and Perry says this is likely to become more obvious in the years ahead with poorer people seeing less of a reduction in overweight and obesity rates.

“In the current context of the ongoing debate on taxing sugary sweet beverages, this is almost a no-brainer from my perspective.

“Maybe 15-20 per cent of children’s calories come from snacks and treats and within that whole segment, sugary sweet beverages, in particular, stand out as a source of empty calories that do not provide normal levels of satiety.

“This may not solve the obesity problem by itself, but it is one of a series of practical steps that can be taken to address the issue.”

When it comes to the production and marketing of food, Perry says we need to take a broader policy lens than simple economic growth, and should be thinking in terms of health, wellbeing and environmental sustainability.

You can read the research here