One in five children as young as 10 overweight

ONE in five children as young as 10 is overweight or obese and many are not getting enough exercise outside of school, a major study on schoolchildren and sport has found.

However, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found there was no direct link between physical activity and body mass in its survey of 3,527 second level and 3,833 primary pupils.

Among fifth and sixth class pupils, 3.8% of boys and 4.3% of girls were obese, while a further 15.7% of boys and 15.8% of girls were overweight.