A DEDICATED team of diet and activity experts has today been set up at Ipswich Hospital to help tackle the problem of childhood obesity.The Children's Weight Management Team will work one-to-one with overweight youngsters in a bid to get them fit.

A DEDICATED team of diet and activity experts has today been set up at Ipswich Hospital to help tackle the problem of childhood obesity.

The Children's Weight Management Team will work one-to-one with overweight youngsters in a bid to get them fit.

Latest statistics show nearly a third of children in Suffolk are overweight or obese, which increases their risk of developing diseases such as diabetes, cancer and circulatory disease.

Dietitian Heather Osborn, the project manager, said: “There is already help out there for overweight children but our new service is unique. We will offer free individual advice, with one-to-one sessions for children and their families. We will discuss issues around food, nutrition, physical activity and behaviour change.”

The service is being piloted in conjunction with NHS Suffolk. It is free to all children and young people up to the age of 19.

Sessions are being held in Whitton Leisure Centre in Ipswich, Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill and Brandon, and The Tree House Children's Centre in Clapgate Lane, Ipswich.

To find out more, or to enrol a child on to the programme, call the team on 01473 704030 or e-mail childweight.manage@ipswichhospital.nhs.uk. Health staff and those who work with young people are also invited to get in touch.

Are you getting advice from the team and want to tell us about it? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk