Leeds first UK city to lower its childhood obesity levels

Leeds has become the first UK city to lower its childhood obesity rate, the Guardian has reported.

The decline in Leeds is most marked among families living in the most deprived areas, where the problem is worst and hardest to tackle.

Over four years, obesity has dropped from 11.5% to 10.5% and the trajectory is steadily downwards. Among the more affluent families, there was also a decline from 6.8% to 6%. Overall the drop was from 9.4% to 8.8%.

The data comes from the national child measurement programme (NCMP), which requires all children to be weighed at the start and end of primary school. The biggest decline in obesity in Leeds is 6.4% in the reception class, at about the age of four. From 2016 to 2017, 625 fewer reception class children were obese.

The drop in childhood obesity levels could be down to a programme called Henry that the city introduced as the core of its obesity strategy in 2009, focusing particularly on the youngest children and poorest families. Henry (Health, Exercise, Nutrition for the Really Young) supports parents in setting boundaries for their children and taking a firm stance on issues from healthy eating to bedtimes.