Mayor Of London Joins Forces With New York To Battle Childhood Obesity

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 26 Jan 2010 - 13:00 PDT

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The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has welcomed the findings of a new report tackling obesity in kids in both London and New York. The report "A Tale of Two ObesCities' was compiled by the London Metropolitan University and City University of New York. It was launched today at a City Hall seminar discussing flab fighting initiatives used in both cities.

In both London and New York City, childhood obesity rates are higher than in the United Kingdom and the United States as a whole. The report found that London and New York experience common challenges - both cities have highly mobile populations, child poverty and overcrowding .Recommendations included promoting activities like walking and cycling and building active design principles into building codes, and housing plans.

Key findings include:

- Nearly 23 per cent of London's four years olds are obese, rising to 36.3 per cent by the age of eleven.
-In New York 40 per cent of kids of a similar age are obese.
-In both cities obesity rates are higher in boys than in girls.
- Poorest children have highest rates of obesity - both cities are characterised by high levels of income inequality.

The report will help develop some of the plans in the Mayor's forthcoming Health Inequalities Strategy and officials from the Mayor's Office have worked closely with partners in New York on effective health initiatives.

Mayor Boris Johnson said: "A superb 2012 legacy for London would be the obliteration of childhood obesity. We are championing effective plans across the capital to fight this and I hope that working with New York will result in leaner, fitter children and families in both our cities.

"I want to take on the fast food companies who mercilessly lure children into excessive calorie consumption. Instead of junk snacks let's encourage kids to grow their own food. Many youngsters are unaware of the magic of seeing a seed flourish into a nourishing item you can eat. If schools can help create mini-farms we could cultivate a nation of enthused Jamie Oliver's.

"I'm also investing millions in the sports and parks that every child in our city should have access to. Cycling, swimming, football and running round parks are great physical exercise and most importantly, immense fun. We must also help the poorest communities who are most vulnerable to bad diets of poor quality food. A key part of my health inequalities plan is to increase access to affordable healthy alternatives. "

Eileen O'Keefe Professor of Public Health, London Metropolitan University said: "'London and New York face common challenges with highly mobile populations, child poverty, and overcrowding. The report demonstrates that the two cities' approaches towards tackling these issues are different, and so they could benefit from collaboration and learning from each other's experiences."

Guest speakers at the health event included Rosie Boycott, Chair of London Food, who discussed the need for more sustainable food growth and local food growing projects. Pamela Chesters, the Mayoral adviser on Health and Youth Opportunities discussed ways food providers could offer a better range of appetising healthy menus.

Notes

1. In children, overweight is usually defined as having a body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on height and weight, at or above the 85th percentile for age and gender and obesity as having a BMI at or above the 95th percentile.

2. To compile the report, London Metropolitan University and the City University of New York convened health officials, researchers, advocates, and city leaders from London and New York to analyze their epidemics of childhood obesity, compare responses, and recommend strategies for reversing these epidemics.

3. Recommendations made by the report fall under the five headings: land use and planning; food; parks and green space; transportation; schools, and research and training. For further information about the report contact Irene Constantinides, PR Officer, London Metropolitan University 020 7320 2346 I.Constantinides@londonmet.ac.uk

Headline conclusions include identification that London and New York:

- Experience common challenges (eg. both cities have highly mobile populations, child poverty and overcrowding)
- Have developed some common solutions (eg. both have endorsed planning and other action on access to healthier choices as key means of tackling obesogenic environments
- Both cities could benefit from further collaboration to learn from each other's experience

Recommendations include:
-Build active design principles into building codes, housing strategies
-Promote and support urban agriculture as a sustainable and health promoting use of green spaces;
-Promote access to places where people can by physically active and promote walking and cycling;
-Implement a universal free school meal program with nutritional standards
-Promote research to help cities understand how the beat health inequalities

4. For more information on the Mayor's forthcoming Health Inequalities Strategy visit http://www.london.gov.uk

Source
Mayor of London

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