High rates of obesity among Irish children

Research conducted on behalf of University College Cork has found alarming rates of obesity among children in Ireland.

The research found that 15% of four-year-old boys and 12% of four-year-old girls were clinically obese.

These figures rose to 19% for boys and 17% for girls in the eight-year-old age group.

UCC Professor Ivan Perry, who presented the research to a conference in Dublin yesterday, said the figures were a wake-up call about a forthcoming obesity epidemic.

Prof Perry said he would support a ban on junk food advertising aimed at children in an effort to address the problem.