Overweight children given fast food in hospital by parents

A study has found that more than one-third of six to 12-year-olds admitted to the Mid-West Regional Hospital are overweight or obese.

The study, undertaken at the Children’s Ark ward, found that one in three has at least one fast-food meal brought in during their hospital stay. Researchers from the graduate entry school of medicine at UL and Dalhousie University Canada looked at the types of food eaten by child patients and found an “abundance” of fried food and a lack of water, brown bread, dairy products, and fruit and veg.

Professor Clodagh O’Gorman, consultant paediatrician, said: “There are approximately 145,000 paediatric admissions to hospital annually in Ireland and Limerick is probably representative of most of Ireland’s paediatric hospital wards.”