A quarter of Brit kids are overweight or obese by the age of 5

LONDON - A new report has revealed that a quarter of Brit children are already overweight or obese when they start school at the age of 4.

And by the time they leave primary school at the age of 11, more than one in three will be too fat and at serious risk of long-term health problems, reports the Daily Mail.

Despite millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being spent on Government initiatives to reduce childhood obesity, the survey of one million youngsters revealed that rates have actually increased over the last few years.

A total of 33.3 per cent of children leaving primary school are now classified as ‘too fat’, compared to 31.7 per cent in 2006-7.

Many also have very high blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin levels - symptoms usually associated with patients in their 50s and 60s.

Doctors have warned that they are seeing teenagers as young as 15 with early signs of heart disease caused by high-fat diets and a lack of exercise.

Experts say the obesity figures prove ministers’ initiatives to promote healthy school meals and physical education have failed.

The figures show that weight problems are more prominent among young boys than girls.

Rates of childhood obesity were also found to vary across the country. In the South West, the figure was 16.1 per cent for those in the last year of primary school, but in London it rose to 21.8 per cent. (ANI)