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Ahead of 4Children's Healthy Children, Bright Futures conference next month, Dr Lala Manners looks at how to tackle childhood obesity in the early years.

Childhood obesity is now an epidemic in the UK, with twelve per cent of children starting nursery overweight or obese. This number rises to 22 per cent at reception age, and 33 percent by the time children arrive at secondary school.

What is contributing to the obesity ‘epidemic’?

There are many contributing factors, including a child’s environment, parental involvement, and even technology. But primarily, and not surprisingly, the key contributors are poor diet and lack of physical activity.

Sugar in particular has a huge effect, and this was first brought to light in the early 1970s. Food companies, alarmed by the inevitable impact this would have on sales, began an aggressive campaign – particularly aimed at children – to mitigate adverse publicity, and this is still continuing today. As a result, professional bodies were not prepared for the rise in obesity levels from the mid-1980s onwards, and we have been playing catch-up ever since.

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