Childhood obesity rates higher in Jersey than UK

Thursday 28 January 2016

More than a third of Jersey’s ten and eleven-year-olds are obese or overweight, according to a new report that has labelled childhood obesity “a very worrying public health problem”.

A study that has been running since 1997 has identified that obesity rates are higher here than in the UK – and that primary schools around St Helier have the most obese youngsters.

The report shows:

- 35% of Jersey’s ten and 11 year olds are obese or overweight, a number that has risen in the last four years.

- 23% of five-year-olds are obese or overweight, a proportion that has increased in the last two years.

- Students in States schools are more likely to be obese than those at fee-paying schools, and those in States town primary schools are most likely to be overweight.

The States’ Head of Health Improvement, Martin Knight, said that bad diet was now more of a threat to public health than smoking or drinking.

He said: “Overweight and obesity do represent a very worrying public health problem.

“Poor dietary behaviours have now overtaken other behaviours such as smoking and alcohol as the cause for the greatest burden of disease nationally and internationally.

“These findings, alongside the knowledge that around half the adult population are overweight and obese, suggest Jersey will be the same.

“Health and Social Services is currently working on a Food and Nutrition strategy where there will be a focus on addressing dietary behaviours with the youngest in our population.

“If we can improve children’s eating habits they will take healthier behaviours with them into adulthood, alongside the related benefits of improved nutrition and loss of weight, reducing their risk of future disease.”