Sydney - More than 20 per cent of Australian kids are already overweight when the bell goes off for their first day of school - a jump from 15 per cent a decade ago, a study released Thursday showed. "It's incredibly concerning that one in five children in Australia have this problem even before they start school," child health specialist Louise Baur told Australia's AAP news agency. "I think we all thought most kids were lean at this age, but clearly, that's not the case."
The survey of 5,000 children aged 4 and 5 found 15 per cent were overweight and another 5 per cent were obese.
It was coordinated by Melissa Wake from Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, and the findings were published in the latest issue of the International Journal of Obesity.
Wake said there was a clear link between household income and being overweight.
Almost 30 per cent of Aboriginal children, the nation's poorest group, were either overweight or obese when they enrolled at school.
Baur said the survey provided evidence that action had to be taken before children started school.
"I'm calling for a whole-of-society approach that takes in everything from workplaces to public transport, the food industry and advertising to really deal with this," she said.
Michael Booth, head of Sydney's Centre for Overweight and Obesity, said 25 per cent of boys and 23 per cent of girls in Australia were overweight or obese - a tripling since the 1980s - and that being fat caused health problems such as heart disease and diabetes and social issues such as bullying and low self-esteem.
