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Press Release 10/2/08
A simple solution to child obesity?

Access to affordable fitness needs improvement if we are to have any impact on the serious obesity and health issues facing us. Says Anne Bateson, Executive Director of World Of Fitness. 

Obesity is fast becoming the leading cause of preventable death in the UK. Obesity is a condition characterised by the bodies excessive storage of fat beneath the skin, within organs and in muscles. All mammals store body fat for insulation and as a way of storing energy. Stored fat has twice the chemical potential energy of carbohydrate or protein. In normal women and normal men, 25% and 15% of mass, respectively, should be stored as fat. 

However, storage of greatly increased amounts of fat is associated with impaired health. Data from insurance company records show that people who weigh 30% or more than the correct weight, run increased risks of disease including diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), gall-bladder disease and arthritis. Such people also often encounter complications during surgery, and recent research has suggested that a quarter of all deaths during surgery were due to complications caused by excessive weight. 

Obesity in England has rapidly increased among both adults and children since the mid 1990s. In 2002 it was similar for both sexes; the rate for boys and girls was 17 per cent and for adults was 23 per cent. In 1995 the equivalent figures were 10 per cent for boys and 12 per cent for girls, 15 per cent for men and 18 per cent for women. Only 28% of the UK population do any regular exercise at all. This is half the rate of Scandinavia. 

There seems to be little change in the calorific consumption of foods rich in fat and added sugar in the UK since the mid 1980s. Men aged 19 to 64 in 2000/01 reported a daily energy intake of approximately 2,323 kcal (a reduction of 6 per cent since 1986/87). Women in the same age groups reported 1,642 kcal, a reduction of 3 per cent. 

Since the early 1990s there has been a steady increase in the use of cars and a decrease in walking and cycling to school. Among children aged five to ten, the proportion who walked to school fell from 61 per cent in 1992–94 to 52 per cent in 2002–03, mirroring the equivalent 10 percentage point rise in the proportion of school journeys by car, from 30 per cent to 40 per cent. It therefore seems safe to assume that the increase in obesity is intrinsically linked to sedentary lifestyles. 

Among adolescents aged 11 to 16, the proportion of journeys to school by car increased from 16 to 23 per cent over the same period, reflecting the combined decrease in journeys on foot or by bicycle. In 1999 it was estimated that more than half a million hours of PE had been lost from the primary school curriculum. 

However, the start of the last school year (September 2007) saw 84% of five-16 year olds now doing the minimum school curriculum requirements of two hours of sport each week. In 2004 this figure was just 25%. The government has pledged to put £775m, over the next three years, to increase this amount to 5 hours per week. Considering the fact that £1.5bn has been spent on school sport between 2003-2008, it remains unclear as to how £775m is going to more than double provision. The 450 school sport partnerships that have been set up throughout the UK to widen sporting opportunities are undoubtedly going to have to involve external providers in order to meet this target. 

The school sports partnerships are embracing the skills, expertise and facilities of providers such as the ‘not for profit’ organisation World of Fitness, based in Burley, Leeds in a bid to overcome funding, facility and training barriers. World of Fitness works in partnership with schools and colleges: plugging the gaps in local school sport provision.  

Anne Bateson, Executive Director of World of Fitness says, “We offer a wide variety of sessions including Hip Hop, Boxing, Cheerleading and Kickboxing all of which have been specifically designed to engage children in physical activity. We offer the sessions during timetabled periods throughout the school day, either at our fitness centre in Burley or at the school itself and we also offer after school sessions. We work closely with individual schools and partnerships to tailor our exercise programmes to meet the needs of the children. Many of the sessions we offer are over subscribed and we want to and can do more but we face similar funding issues as those faced by the schools themselves. 

“We are certain that the simple solution to overcoming child obesity and subsequent health issues in adulthood, lies in engaging children in fun physical activities.” 

The government insists that it is now addressing these issues but Anne is still looking for the public sector backing that will enable her to increase provision within schools and take the model nationwide. “I am pleased that provision of physical activity is higher on the political agenda,” she said. “People are recognising that it is now or never. We all have a responsibility to work together to make a difference to the lives of our children. We have a chance to turn it around by ensuring that our children are engaged in regular physical activity. It is the simple solution to combating obesity but a solution that it certain to work.” 

For more information or an interview with Anne Bateson please call Carly on

0113 2660655.