An international study has found that British children are falling far behind most other nations in terms of physical activity.
The study compared the activity levels of children in 38 countries, and put England, Wales and Scotland behind countries like Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
England and Wales were given a “D minus” rating in the survey, while Scotland received an “F”, ranking them as the worst, alongside Chile, China, Estonia and Qatar.
Currently the UK government advises that children should be doing at least an hour of exercise every day, at a moderate intensity. However, the report has found that only 15 per cent of girls and 22 per cent of boys aged 11 to 15 years are currently reaching this target in England.
The study has found that the average fitness of children in England has fallen in the two years since the research was first published, bringing its overall grade down to D minus; England was given an overall grade of C-D in the previous study.
Simon Stevens is the chief executive of the NHS, and has urged parents to make radical changes to their children’s diets. He said: “The average five-year-old is estimated to be consuming their own body weight in sugar each year. So we are storing up all kinds of trouble for our children and their generation.”
Mr Stevens emphasised that exercise is able to: lower the risk of strokes by three per cent, prevent 30 per cent of osteoporosis, prevent depression, radically reduce the risk of breast cancer and bowel cancer, reduce stress, prevent 30 per cent of cases of dementia, and eliminate type 2 diabetes.
