Charity urge more weigh-ins for school pupils to tackle obesity

Primary school pupils should be subject to more weigh-ins to check their health, a cancer charity says.

By The Newsroom

Published 7th Dec 2016, 08:30 BST

Updated 14th Dec 2016, 13:16 BST

Pupils are currently weighed in P1, but Cancer Research wants the measurement programme expanded.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s health committee, it said obesity was the second biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking.

It said that 10% of children in Scotland started primary school overweight or obese between 2005-6 and 2014-15.

The charity said: “Monitoring BMI status of children is vital to both monitor societal trends, the impact of interventions and identify social inequalities linked to obesity.

“We believe this measurement programme should be expanded to include the routine measurement of children in P6.”

The Scottish Government says it encourages people to have a healthy diet and do physical activity and that it is looking at new ways to curb obesity.