Obesity: Rising to the challenge

The obesity crisis continues to dominate the majority of headlines about our nation's youth, and while recent research suggests that obesity levels seem to be stabilising in the under-10s, almost 40 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds are overweight, with a host of unpleasant potential health problems on the cards for the future.

The number of overweight people in the UK has trebled in the past 25 years, and one in three children is now overweight, with one in five classified as obese. Preventative education is working to some extent to slow down the rise, and schools are becoming increasingly strict about food and drink permitted on the premises. But, and here's the big but, the truth is that most children – and, indeed, most adults – have very little idea what their diets contain in terms of sugar, unhealthy fats and calories – and therein lies the problem.