Obesity is a medical issue that a lot of people continue to struggle with on a daily basis among other health concerns.  A new study conducted by the Health Ministry has discovered that more than one quarter of Israeli children are overweight or obese, as reported by Israel Radio.

According to the study that was presented Monday at a conference on child welfare in Be’er Sheva, approximately 570,000 children in grades 1 through 9 are considerably overweight. Of the 27 percent of Israeli children who fall into this category, 16 percent are overweight and another 11 percent are obese.

The number of overweight children in Israel has appeared to startle the parents. Last month, about a dozen of parents, children, educators and nutritionists held a vigil in Jerusalem to protest against unhealthy meals served to children between the ages of three and nine at after-school programs.

The protesters gathered outside the Education Ministry and distributed unhealthy food from after-school programs to officials to “illustrate to them the importance of the problem of nutrition in the education system.”