St Albans has one of the lowest childhood obesity rates in England, according to figures released by the NHS.
Just 10 per cent of Year 6 pupils in the district were obese during the 2017/2018 school year, which is one of the lowest rates in England. In some London boroughs, such as Barking and Dagenham, almost one in three 10 to 11-year-olds are classified as obese.
The figures, which come from the National Child Measurement Programme, show that in St Albans 1.3 per cent of Year 6 children are severely obese, and a further 11 per cent are overweight. In the same school year just six per cent of St Albans’s children were obese in Reception.
Children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds were found to be more than twice as likely to be obese as those from the wealthiest areas.
Public health minister Steve Brine said: “Obesity is a problem that has been decades in the making – one that will take significant effort across government, schools, families and wider society to address.”
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