Boys and girls should be separated for sport activities and exercise as early as preschool to fight obesity in children from the youngest ages, health experts recommended yesterday.

Sports teachers in primary schools and a greater diversity of exercise routines would help young girls who continue to be less active than boys, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The recommendations follow the release of the NSW Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey report which found children are not eating enough vegetables and spending too long watching television or playing video games.

Dr Louise Hardy, senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity Research Group, said children’s basic movement skills like running, jumping, throwing and catching were poor.