The health of Britain’s children is now a "state of emergency" given soaring rates of obesity, a senior paediatrician has warned.
Latest figures show that a third of primary school-leavers and 20% of school-starters are either overweight or obese.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health called for the government to come up with new ways to tackle the problem – in addition to a recently published childhood obesity plan.
It called for the childhood measure programme to begin before school – and for restrictions on junk food advertising before 9pm.
The NHS Digital figures found that 19.8% of primary school leavers were obese – an increase from 19.1% last year. Another 14.4% of this group were overweight.
In Barking and Dagenham, Essex, 28.5% of these year 6 children were obese.
Some 9.3% of children starting school were obese and another 12.8% overweight.
Professor Russell Viner, from the college, said: "With over a fifth of reception children overweight or obese and a third of children in year six – a rise from last year’s figures, it is not an understatement to say we are entering a state of emergency.
“We cannot afford for the next generation of children to continue on this trajectory. Obesity is already costing the NHS over £6bn – a figure it can ill afford – thanks to the development of conditions like Type Two Diabetes and asthma, all of which we are seeing much earlier."
Alison Cox, from Cancer Research UK, said: "The trend over the last decade is showing no signs of slowing down, and this worrying news is something that could have been prevented with more government action."
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