The Regional Health Agency and the Réunion Academy published at the end of February the results of a joint study on the corpulence of children in 6th grade carried out among 1,700 Réunion students..
The results show stability in the body mass index of students between the 2011-2012 survey and that of 2022-2023. On the other hand, there is an increase in the proportion of underweight people and, despite the stability between the two surveys, overweight remains very present. Nearly 7 out of 10 children have a normal build, just under 2 in 10 are overweight, 1 in 10 is obese and just under 1 in 10 children are underweight. Children living in the East and North of the island have a higher rate of overweight and obesity than the average. The survey also confirms the link between obesity and precariousness. Obesity and overweight are more present among students from middle-class or disadvantaged families. The prevalence of obesity is higher among students enrolled in priority education network establishments : 9,3% versus 7,3% of children in school outside of priority education. This situation is generally attributed to the difficulty for disadvantaged families to adopt a complete and healthy diet.. A “Nutrition Marmay” operation will be launched from the 2024-2025 school year in order to accentuate nutritional education actions to prevent childhood obesity in schools..
