20% Of Kids Overweight In Croatian Primary School 1st Grade

20 percent of girls and boys enrolling in the first grade of primary school in Croatia are overweight, with kids on average 2.5 centimeters taller and 2.5 kg’s heavier than they were 30 years ago, according to data presented at a children’s nutrition debate in Croatia’s capital Zagreb.

Sanja Music-Milanovic, from the Croatian Institute of Public Health Promotion Department, emphasised that children today get fat because they consume more energy than they spend, adding that about 20 percent of children in Croatia are overweight when they enrolled in the first grade. Music-Milanovic said that kids today were taller and fatter than they were 30 years ago, with the key to that she says, is that food is so readily available today and kids are doing less physical activity.

“Food should satisfy hunger, but today it is a form of socializing,” said Music-Milanovic, stressing that the introduction of an organised diet in primary schools and more exercise (60 minutes a day) is necessary,” reported Croatian radiotelevision.