‘Ignorant’ parents blamed for fat children

IGNORANT parents are today blamed for adding to £67 million being spent in Oldham on dealing with problems of overweight.

A staggering £67.5 million was forked out last year as a result of obesity. And it is predicted to rise to £74.9 million in 2015 if action is not taken.

Information published today for the first time shows a breakdown of the cost of obesity to every primary care trust in England and revealed nationally the cost to the NHS was £4.2 billion last year with predictions of £6.3 billion in 2015.

And according to Department of Health research, parents “incapable” of cooking and not recognising their children are overweight is fuelling the problem.

The North-West Government region has the highest number of overweight or obese female children, at 34 per cent.

Associate director of Public Health at Oldham Primary Care Trust (PCT) Debra Malone said: “In Oldham, while the health costs associated with people being overweight and obese is currently less than average, we are continuing to see a rise in the numbers of adults and children who are overweight or obese.

“Over the last few years Oldham PCT has invested heavily in health improvement programmes that are designed to help people to become more active, eat more fruit and vegetables and improve their cooking skills.

Local health chiefs will be given “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Toolkit for Developing Local Strategies” to help them tackle obesity and encourage people to live healthier lives.

It provides advice on how health professionals can support people in the area and sets out reasons why it is such a growing problem.

The document claims research found a lack of knowledge, confidence and skills is the main barrier which stops parents cooking from scratch and parents underestimate how much unhealthy food and convenience food they buy as well as overestimating the amount of activity their children do.

Families also use snacks as rewards with some parents of older children worrying about not feeding them enough and risks of eating disorders including anorexia.

Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: “Obesity is the biggest health challenge we face - every year 9,000 people die prematurely. And many people simply just don’t know that being overweight can lead to major health problems including heart disease and cancer.

“We are leading the world when it comes to facing up to the problem and tackling obesity. From this autumn we are aiming to change the way we all live our lives. The Change4Life campaign will help us all to change the way we eat, the way we exercise and the way we raise our children so we can prevent obesity and related diseases.”