More than 57,000 children become overweight or obese during primary school

Statistics published by Cancer Research UK reveal that every year 57,100 children who started primary school at a healthy weight end up obese or overweight by the time they leave.

What’s more, one in five children are already overweight or obese when they start primary school, and by the time they leave, that figure rises to one in three.

To highlight the highlight the issue of children’s obesity and the epidemic of rising ill-health, Cancer Research UK has transformed a shop front into an XL school uniform shop to show the new norm of larger school uniforms.

The charity says being overweight or obese is the single biggest cause of preventable cancer in the UK after smoking. It contributes to 18,100 cases of cancer every year and is linked to 10 types of cancer including bowel, breast, and pancreatic.

Alison Cox, Cancer Research UK’s director of prevention, said: “More than 57,000 children will become overweight or obese during primary school each year in England, and the Government had a chance to prevent this. The childhood obesity plan is simply not up to the task of tackling children’s obesity. Instead, the next generation faces a future of ill health, shortened lives, and an overstretched NHS.”