Britain's fattest five-year-old: Girl is taken into care after her weight ballooned to TEN STONE
- - Girl was at least three times the weight of the average five-year-old
- - She is one of the heaviest five-year-old girls recorded in the UK
- - The girl was taken into care in Newport, south Wales, last year
- - She 'suffers from a genetic condition which causes constant hunger'
- - Child protection experts have labelled the case 'a tragedy'
By LEON WATSON
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Care: A five-year-old girl was taken into care by social workers after her weight ballooned to more than 10 stone, at least three times what is expected of a healthy child (file picture)
Social workers have taken a girl aged five into care after her weight ballooned to more than 10 stone, it emerged today.
The child was at least three times the weight of what is expected of a healthy girl and is one of the heaviest five-year-olds recorded in the UK.
She was taken into care in Newport, south Wales, in August last year and is understood to have been tested for a rare genetic condition which causes constant hunger.
Child protection experts have labelled the case 'a tragedy' and expressed disbelief that action was not taken sooner by the local council.
She weighed 10st 5lb when Newport City Council intervened - making her the heaviest boy or girl aged five recorded in an English school since 2008.
Typically girls of that age weigh about three stone, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Newport City Council told The Sunday Times it made the decision to take her into care purely because of the girl's obesity.
Two months later her weight had risen yet further to 10st 10lb, but when she was weighed again this September it had dropped to below eight stone.
However, her Body Mass Index – a measure of weight in comparison to height referred to as BMI – was still roughly double the normal level for a five-year-old child.
Gwent Police were unable to confirm whether arrests were made in connection with the case.
Earlier this year worrying figures were revealed about overweight and obesity among reception class children in Wales.
The Child Measurement Programme for Wales report found that nearly 30 per cent of four and five-year-olds in Gwent are overweight or obese, with the obesity level in this age group at 12.5 per cent, or one-in-eight.
Figures from the Welsh Health Survey also revealed that across Wales, 35 per cent of under-16s are overweight or obese, including around 19 per cent who are obese.
The survey found nearly three-in-five adults are overweight or obese.
In September, nationwide figures showed Britain's average size is continuing to rise due to a hardcore of overweight individuals who are still getting fatter.
A study, which looked at 160,000 adults in England between 1992 and 2010, found that a quarter of men and a third of women with an existing high BMI – a measure of weight in comparison to height – remain susceptible to substantial weight-gain.
Newport City Council, based in the Civic Centre (pictured) in Newport, south Wales, made the decision to take the girl into care purely because if her obesity
Experts say children who have a high BMI and stay fat are more likely to have high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood insulin levels – all risk factors for heart disease – by the time they reach their mid-teens, say experts.
As part of the National Child Measurement Programme children in reception class (aged four and five) and Year 6 (aged 10 and 11) are weighed and measured at school.
Tam Fry, honorary chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, said the case was tragic.
He told The Sunday Times: 'Since that child was one-year-old she would have been putting on weight, year after year after year. She must have been visible at nursery.
'Who didn't raise their hand and say, "Look, something is going tragically wrong here"?'
Conservative councillor Tom Suller, member of a parenting forum, said: 'It's a sad sign of the times.
'It's really terrible that a child can end up this way through no fault of her own.
'People just don't follow healthy diets at the moment. There are a lot of obese parents out there and their children are ending up exactly the same way.
'There are other children in this sort of state - it's a ticking time bomb.
'At the moment there are so many financial restraints on families that many find it really hard to get the right food.
'A lot of people just think: 'I'll get a KFC tonight and McDonalds tomorrow,' they don't consider the consequences.
'They're in a catch-22 situation and they have no idea how to get off the carousel. I think it's down to councils and schools to make parents aware of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
'It's not about the blame game, it's about getting to the root cause.'
Labour councillor Paul Cockeram, Cabinet Member for Social Care and Wellbeing, said: 'It's a sad reflection of society today.
'People just want things which are cheap, easy and quick but there's more to life than fast food and chicken nuggets,
'Maybe it's a poverty thing, perhaps it is cheaper to go into any supermarket and buy three ready meals for a fiver.
'But I think people are lazy as well. Youngsters aren't taught how to cook properly, they don't understand the importance of good wholesome food.
'Noone sits down and has dinner together - everyone just eats in front of the TV. There are obese children all over the place, we're getting to the point where parents are going to out live their children. It's a terrible state of affairs.'
A spokesman for Newport City Council told the paper: 'The wellbeing of children and young people is of paramount importance and at the heart of all the work that is done by our children's services department.
'A thorough and comprehensive assessment of each child and family that we work with is always undertaken. All factors will be considered in any decision that is taken. It would be inappropriate to comment further on this case in the best interests of the child.'
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