Health timebomb fear for Scotland's children

SCOTLAND is storing up health problems for future generations because youngsters are not eating enough fruit and vegetables or taking enough exercise, a major study has revealed.

Just one in three young people eats fruit and veg daily, and only 15 per cent are reaching recommended levels of physical activity, according to Edinburgh University research involving almost 7,000 children aged 11, 13 and 15.

Campaigners called for action to tackle Scottish youngsters' bad habits and prevent the nation's already poor record on obesity and illnesses such as heart disease from getting worse.

The survey, which is carried out every four years, found that the percentage of girls eating fruit daily now stands at 40 per cent, down from 43 per cent in 2006. In boys, consumption fell from 36 per cent to 33 per cent.

Similar results were seen with vegetable consumption, with the percentage of girls who said they ate vegetables daily dropping from 46 to 39 per cent, while in boys it remained static at 33 per cent.

The research also found worryingly low rates of physical activity among Scotland's young people. In 2010, only 19 per cent of boys met Scottish Government guidelines of an hour or more of moderate physical activity every day, down from 29 per cent in 2006. For girls, the figure fell from 16 to 11 per cent.

Professor Candace Currie, director of the Child and Adolescent Research Unit in Edinburgh, said: "A very low percentage of people are meeting the guidelines, and there has been no improvement, which is a concern.

"It will be interesting to see if efforts being made at the moment in physical activity initiatives in schools will bear fruit when we do the survey again in four years' time.

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"There has been an immense amount of programming to improve physical activity within schools, so we were quite surprised not to see any impact of that."

The research suggested children are ditching more unhealthy foods, with daily sweet consumption falling by a third since 2002, and consumption of crisps and chips halving between 2002 and 2010.

Prof Currie said young people giving up unhealthy habits, such as eating sweets and crisps, were not taking up others to improve their health.She said difficult financial circumstances could be affecting people's ability to take part in healthy activities.

"Opportunities for eating healthy foods and doing physical activity are related to wealth or income, so it could be that the economic situation is impacting on those, whereas there is not a strong relationship between family affluence and substance use," Prof Currie said.

Tam Fry, from the Children Growth Foundation, said it was important that healthy messages were heeded during childhood to reduce the risk of health problems in adulthood.

"Essentially, the good health messages are not getting through," he said.

"What we have got to do is start addressing these issues in pre-school, because with pre-schoolers you have the possibility that the messages about good eating and exercise will lodge in the child's minds."

The report also highlighted another area of concern, signalling a drop in levels of happiness reported among children.

The percentage of boys who said they felt very happy with their life dropped from 52 to 48 per cent, while in girls it was down from 45 to 39 per cent. There were also decreases in levels of confidence.

Almost a third of 15-year-olds said they had had sex - 35 per cent of girls and 27 per cent of boys. But the proportion who used a condom during their last sexual encounter decreased from 79 per cent in 2006 to 72 per cent in 2010.

The rate of daily smoking among 15-year-olds has fallen from 16 to 11 per cent since 2002; the number of young people drinking alcohol at least once a week also fell by over a third, and experimental and regular cannabis use has halved since 2002.

However, Dr Evelyn Gillan, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: "One in four 15-year-olds report drinking alcohol every week and 43 per cent report having been drunk on at least two occasions."

Public health minister Shona Robison said: "There are many positives in this report, which indicates that children are making healthier choices. It's particularly good news that fewer young people are smoking, drinking or taking drugs.

"However, there is clearly room for improvement - it's important that more children take more exercise - but this report does show efforts to improve children's health are bearing fruit."