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The
childhood obesity problem
Exercise
is no longer a regular part of everyone’s day – some children never
walk or cycle to school, or play any kind of sport.
It is not
unusual for children to spend hours in front of a television or
computer
Obesity
in western countries has grown by almost 400% in the last 25 years,
so that now three-quarters of the adult population are now either
overweight or obese (with 22% of these being obese)
 Play
habits have become more passive with new technology; Children are
spending a great deal more time on computers and playing video
games
Many
students are transported to school and to other places for
convenience or safety reasons
The
problem – Australia
 One in four
Australian children are considered obese
Physical
inactivity is estimated to cost the Australian health system $400
million a year and contribute to 8,000 preventable
deaths
Some
Australian children are spending up to 35 hours a week looking at a
television or computer screen
Total
Diabetes health bill is $1.2 billion in two years time it will be
$2 billion
The
problem – UK & Europe
 The National Diet
and Nutrition Survey (UK, 2000) found that 40-69% of children over
the age of six spend less than the recommended minimum of one hour
a day doing moderate intensity physical activity
Recent
figures suggested a third of 12-year-olds in Scotland were
overweight, with one in five being clinically obese
England
has witnessed the fastest growth in obesity in Europe, with
childhood obesity tripling in the last twenty years
Recent
data suggests that obesity increases the cancer death-rate by about
35% in men and 45% in women
The
problem – North America
40% of
those aged five to eight can be classified as obese
40% of
Canadian children already have reduced fitness due to an inactive
lifestyle, one of the risk factors for heart disease
The
American Surgeon General, indicates obesity is becoming a greater
health risk factor than smoking
Children
are 40% less active than they were 30 years ago
The
average Canadian child watches more than 26 hours of television a
week and spends up to 30 hours sitting in school each
week
Only 766
out of more than 15,800 Canadian schools have been formally
recognised for quality sports education on a daily basis
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