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Weigh children more to help tackle obesity, says charity

Health Child Obesity
The Children’s Food Trust is urging the Government to measure children more regularly to better understand when they are gaining weight.

In its new white paper, published ahead of the Government’s national child obesity strategy in January, the charity calls for the Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) to be extended to include universal measurement and reporting at the age of two and during children’s teenage years.

The Children’s Food Trust believes that by extending the current NCMP, which measures the height and weight of children in reception class and Year 6, the Government would be able to gain a better understanding of when children and young people gain weight and what more could be done to improve their nutrition.

Its call follows the release of the latest figures from the NCMP for the 2014-15 school year, published at the end of last week, which revealed over a fifth of reception children are overweight or obese.  This rises to one in three by the time the leave primary school.

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