Leap of fitness

While Maltese children hold the trophy for obesity, St James Hospital Group will this summer try and help them win the title for health and fitness instead.

A 12-week, summer-school-type programme, called Leap, is being organised for overweight children aged between five and 16, to instil in them the concept of being healthy for life.

No programme would succeed if children returned home to a fat-laden dinner, so the hospital is also involving parents in the nutritional and psychological consultations in an attempt to reverse the rising trend of obese children.

Group director Jean Claude Muscat said the figures were becoming so alarming they felt the need to do something. He referred to a Canadian study that shows Malta in the lead with 25.4 per cent of children aged 10 to 16 being overweight, surpassing children in the US (25.1 per cent) who are renowned for leading the lumpy league.

Spurred on by one study after another that highlight this disturbing reality, the hospital will be holding a national conference on childhood obesity to jolt policymakers, parents, teachers and everybody involved into taking action.

The conference will be held on Saturday between 9.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. at Victoria Hotel's Palazzo Capua, in Sliema. Participation is free.

Between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., St James Hospital, Sliema, will provide free testing of body mass index.

Chris Fearne, a consultant paediatric surgeon, insisted that few recognised obesity as an illness - being fat was a condition like any other and had to be treated, not left to grow out of every proportion, he said.

Victor Grech, a consultant paediatrician, said obese children become obese adults and are at an increased risk of encountering cardiac problems as they grow older.

"In the US, it is also believed that one third of cancers are directly or indirectly related to obesity," he said.

So Leap was created. Standing for Lifestyle Educational Action Plan, it will encourage children to change their unhealthy lifestyle in a fun way, four times a week for three months.

The programme, which starts on July 1 and costs Lm175 for the whole 12 weeks (discounts are offered for siblings enrolled together), includes physical exercises at St Aloysius gym and at a pool, as well as nutritional and psychology consultations, all under the supervision of a medical doctor.

To register your child for Leap call 2133 5235. Registration for the conference can be done on the day.