Maltese 10- and 11-year-olds are the second fattest on Earth, according to new research.It reveals that children in the two age groups feature right near the top of the league for the most overweight and obese in the world, surpassed only by the Greeks.

These rates were higher than previously thought and confirmed the urgent need to identify causes and tackle childhood obesity in Malta, researcher Andrew Decelis, who conducted the study, stressed.

The research also found that boys are more overweight and obese than girls and that the prevalence was higher than previously estimated.

In his study, Mr Decelis found that Maltese children who were on the cusp between Year 6 and secondary school were only surpassed by their Greek counterparts in obesity.

More than 34 per cent of Maltese children were classified as overweight or obese compared to 41 per cent of Greek 11-year-olds when using the classification method of the International Obesity Task Force.

Almost 39 per cent of Maltese boys fell into the overweight category compared to 44 per cent of Greeks.

Girls in Malta placed second, at 30 per cent, with the percentage in Greece hitting 37.7.

The study was highlighted in an article in the International Association for the Study of Obesity’s journal – Paediatric Obesity – co-authored by Ken Fox and Russell Jago from the University of Bristol, who are both established researchers in the area.

The study’s objective was to establish, through height and weight, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in a representative sample of Maltese children aged between 10 and 11.

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34 per cent

The proportion of Maltese children classified as overweight or obese

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The research found that the prevalence of overweight and obesity differed by the categorisation of the body mass index, a weight-to-height ratio used as an indicator of weight.

The standards of the Inter­national Obesity Task Force indicated that 20 per cent of Maltese children were overweight and 14 per obese. Going by World Health Organisation standards, the prevalence was even higher: 23 per cent were overweight and almost 21 per cent were obese.

However, all the standards “reported significant sex differences, classifying more boys in the overweight and obesity categories”, the study noted.

The “study has confirmed a very high prevalence of overweight and obesity in Maltese 10- and 11-year-old children, irrespective of the standards used”. Comparisons of the four different standards in the study revealed that prevalence “is higher than all other countries with the exception of Greece” and similar to Italy for children aged eight to nine years, “suggesting a strong southern Mediterranean trend”.

The researchers pointed out that other studies that used more than one reference standard also reported inconsistent results and this could have been caused by differences in cut-off points between overweight and obese categories.

“Rapid action is required to identify the underlying causes and to develop and implement prevention and treatment strategies,” to fight obesity, the study said.

Unlike other studies, such as the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, the research carried out by Mr Decelis, lecturer at the University of Malta’s Institute for PE and Sport, did not depend on self-reporting.

Almost 880 Year 6 children took part in the study, which was carried out between January and May 2012. These were selected by school – whether it was State, Church or private – region and sex.

Key facts about obesity:

Worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980.

In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Of these, over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese.

35 per cent of adults aged 20 and over were overweight in 2008 and 11 per cent were obese.

65 per cent of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than those being underweight.

More than 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2011.

Obesity is preventable.

Overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths. At least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese.

44 per cent of the diabetes burden, 23 per cent of the ischaemic heart disease burden and between seven and 41 per cent of certain cancer burdens are attributable to overweight and obesity.

Source: World Health Organisation

Tips to help children lose weight:

Become more active. Parents should encourage children to take advantage of summer, beating the heat and staying active at the same time, by swimming after 4pm and learning how to swim.

Involve the whole family by organising outings to a park or the beach. Start going on a family walk after dinner instead of watching television.

Cut out the junk food and sugary drinks. Replace with fruit and vegetables.

Eat at table and not in front of the TV.