'ALARMING' RISE IN CHILD OBESITY

CHILDHOOD obesity has risen to “alarming” levels with experts calling for action to prevent unhealthy life-styles setting in among babies and toddlers.

- BY CHRIS MCCALL

One in five at risk of being overweight by P1

A report out today warns that a child's expectation of living a healthy life is set early on and becomes “difficult to alter after the age of about five years”.

Experts said the first 1000 days of life - from pregnancy through to a child's second birthday - are “critical to development and health across the life-course”.

It comes amid warnings that childhood obesity in Scotland is “growing alarmingly” with 20 per cent of children at risk of being overweight by Primary 1.