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2nd July 2012It was a real priority for the last government, but under this government childhood obesity seems to be under the radar.
If the government and health professionals do not act now to deal with child obesity it could end up costing the NHS £50bn a year by 2050.
That is the clear message MEND want to send to Westminster today, the start of National Childhood Obesity Week.
MEND, a charity that empowers children and adults to become fitter, healthier and happier and to reach or maintain a healthier weight, has created a toolkit for MPswho want to get involved.
Founded in 2004, it came out of a partnership between Great Ormond St Hospital and University College London's Institute of Child Health. It designs programmes and services, offering long-term solutions that help people improve their health, fitness, and self-esteem.
"We are trying to raise awareness of the dangers of being overweight or obese in childhood and the fact that many parents are not aware that their child is overweight or obese," explains Paul Sacher, MEND's Chief Research and Development Officer.
"It was a real priority for the last government, but under this government childhood obesity seems to be under the radar.
"It is the most urgent child health issue we face."
MEND's evidence-based child weight management programmes have already helped ten of thousands of young people, but the challenge remains substantial.
"It is actually very difficult to look at your child and tell whether they are overweight or not," explains Mr Sacher.
"Even as a paediatric dietician, if I have a child in a clinic or at a hospital I can't just look at them and tell whether they are a healthy weight. The only way to do it is to measure the child's height and weight and work out their body mass index.
"One in three children is overweight or obese in the UK. Historically parents would know if their child was overweight because they would be the biggest kid in the class, but now all the kids are getting bigger and they don't stand out as much.
"When it comes to adults it is now more normal to be obese or overweight than it is to be a healthy weight, because 60% of adults are overweight or obese, so our norms are changing and our perceptions are changing. The majority of obese children will go on to become obese adults."
The solution is not as simple as banning fatty foods or sugary drinks – the change must be one of lifestyle for kids and parents alike.
"It is more about healthy behaviours and getting your children into healthy habits, that exercise is a normal part of their lives, it is normal to walk to school, to be outdoors and active. It is about children getting the habit of eating vegetables and not takeaways. The best way to do that as parents is do it yourself. Children copy parents especially at younger ages, so it is very difficult to get them to eat vegetables if you don't. Parents need to be positive role models to their children."
The focus on prevention at the expense of treatment is also counterproductive.
"You need to do both but there has been a massive imbalance in funding between treatment and prevention, about £1bn on prevention compared to £1m on frontline treatment of child obesity," says Mr Sacher.
"In England there are around 2.5m obese children.
"We calculate that only about 2% of them have access to a child weight management programme, which is the recommended NICE treatment for child obesity, so the government really needs to act now on obesity services to save money later on.
"If we do not act now the adult obesity epidemic is only going to get worse as these children go up."
Mr Sacher is hopeful that the new NHS local health and wellbeing boards will improve the way services are commissioned.
"We hope many will prioritise child obesity and they will recognise the need for more evidence-based treatment.
"Historically a lot of money has cone into prevention, but we know that the majority of health weight children will probably remain healthy weight, it is the overweight and obese children that have a much higher chance of becoming an obese adult. Prevention does not make any difference to obese children.
"The really frustrating thing is that there is a solution. 10 years ago we did not know what to do about it but now there are programmes like MEND that have been shown through clinical research to improve a whole range of things such as weight, weight control, activity, self-esteem."
MEND's recent survey with NetMums asked parents how they felt about bringing up the topic of weight with their child.
"One of the most worrying results was 40% of parents think that if you raise the issue of weight with your child it might cause an eating disorder, which it doesn't," says Mr Sacher. "It is a matter of priorities - times are tough but the money spent on childhood obesity now will without a doubt save a significant amount of money in the future."