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Officials with The Brighton and Hove City (UK) Primary Care Trust will be sending letters to parents of Year Six students to inform them if their children are overweight. Those whose children are deemed overweight or obese will also get food and exercise recommendations. (Year Six in the United Kingdom is equivalent to fifth grade in the U.S. system.)

An Aug. 12 article by Siobhan Ryan of The Argus provided the following details on this effort:

Health bosses claim the intention is to support parents to make important lifestyle changes to help their child reach a healthy weight ... Figures from the 2007/08 measurement programme show that 21 percent of reception [kindergarten-age] children and 31 percent of year 6 children were overweight.

"Modern living can really make it hard for children to maintain a healthy weight," PCT public health development manager Lydie Lawrence said in Ryan's article. "If this trend [of childhood overweight and obesity] continues, nine out of ten children may grow up with dangerous amounts of fat in their bodies which puts them at greater risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease as adults."

Source: The Argus (UK)

Labels: childhood_obesity, UK, schools, overweight children

Posted By: Aspen/CRC