One in four Spanish children between the ages of three and five are overweight

"It is a very premature age, it's alarming and we need to make a massive effort to take action at an even earlier age if we are to prevent childhood obesity", declared the foundation's scientific director, Rafael Casas, in a press conference today.

The report, published yesterday in Barcelona, is one of the most extensive ever carried out in Spain, studying 38,008 children between the ages of 3 and 12, and its results show that 30% of children in Spain are either overweight (21.7%) or obese (8.3%).

"These are percentages very similar to those recorded in the USA and we are hardly investing any money at all in preventing childhood obesity - only about 5 or 6% of the total health budget", underlined the president of the Thao Foundation, Henri García.

Contrary to what was previously believed, the study showed that obesity is beginning at ever younger ages, with 7.3% of three to five year olds clinically obese, with a slight reduction from the age of ten onwards, with 6.6% of 10 to 12 year olds categorised as obese.

Experts from the Thao Foundation, who work closely with the Ministries of Education and Health to promote childhood health, warn that far too many children are still leading very sedentary lives and that the Mediterrarean diet is not all it's cracked up to be, with 75% of children eating only one piece of fruit a day.