Children, School and Diet

Written by Annette Brooke MP and published in The House Magazine on Mon 18th Jul 2005

The extent of the problem facing children, parents/carers and presenting challenges for government policy is quite phenomenal. Recent studies report that over one million children in the UK are obese , with an additional 200,000 children in Britain becoming overweight and obese each year .

Obesity is linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including heart diseases, diabetes and osteoarthritis. Poor diet and lack of exercise is a key determinant of bad health. Children with bad eating habits and low activity levels now are more likely to become unhealthy adults, with huge costs in terms of health care for the future. The recent Health Select Committee report on obesity put the economic cost of dealing with an obesity pandemic in the UK at between £6.6 to £7.4bn per year.

It is therefore certainly time for the government to review its role in addressing these issues, drawing in parents/carers and children and the academic curriculum in a serious attempt to turn around the current trends.

Health, fitness and general wellbeing of children and adults is becoming a national obsession in terms of newspaper columns and 'reality television' programming, however, in spite of all the discussion, are we tackling the crisis effectively?

Responsibility for the healthy diet of children, both in and out of school has to lie with parents and children themselves, with a significant dose of support and policy input from schools and government directly. The challenge is how to optimise all of these inputs, while achieving effective outcomes.

Even before 'Jamie's School Dinners' hit our screens in March 2005 and mobilised over 270,000 citizens to lobby the government to increase spending on quality ingredients, research has shown that a nutritious diet free from artificial additives and processed food can significantly improve behaviour and concentration in school children. Research also shows that behaviour can be improved by the introduction of vitamins and other supplements.

We have to take responsibility for the mental and physical development of our children. To tackle the problem, children need to eat more healthy and nutritious food, both at home and at school. Parents and carers need to ensure that this happens and children need to learn from an early age, and beyond, that "You Are What You Eat". The government has an important role in facilitating this by introducing initiatives to educate parents and children on what is a 'healthy diet' and by ensuring that good food is accessible to all.

The Liberal Democrats welcome a great many of the government's recent initiatives to help improve the diet of our young people, but it is clear that more must be done to ensure a turnaround in attitudes and behaviour for long-term health benefits to be best achieved.

Sure Start projects have been successful in teaching new mothers and carers how to provide babies and children with the best start in life, improving their well-being and lifestyles and providing information on healthy eating and nutritious food preparation. Such initiatives should be rolled out nationally, not only concentrated in the most deprived areas.

We welcome the introduction of the National School Fruit Scheme which ensures that all infant school children aged 4-6 receive a free piece of fruit every day, however believe that given the urgent need for on-going healthy food promotion, this should be extended to older children also.

The extension of 'breakfast clubs' to ensure that children, particularly the most vulnerable, start the day with an adequate meal is also welcomed. Studies have proven that a typical breakfast of cereal can help to maintain mental performance over the morning, which should have positive effects on concentration and focus of children on lessons.

One school I know of in a relatively deprived area undertook a study of two thirds of its pupils' food intake during the day. The analysis of the data produced alarming results, showing that virtually all children were eating and drinking highly processed food, high in sugar and fat, if they ate or drank anything at all. Most students admitted drinking relatively little during the day - often only fizzy drinks - which put them at risk of spending much of the day significantly dehydrated. The teacher responsible for the study in his school is depressed at the results and asks:

"What is the point of spending a fortune on KS3/secondary strategies when so many kids are just not capable of learning as their brains are not functioning? It is like trying to fine tune the engine of a car, which has the wrong fuel in it".

It would be interesting to replicate this study in a range of schools in different areas.

As we saw on 'Jamie's School Dinners', some children did simply not know what fresh food was having been brought up on processed meals and takeaways. This is where educating the whole family is necessary and why Jamie brought in parents to the school and introduced "Food Week" in schools. The supermarket chains could also do a lot more to promote healthy food, for example by introducing 'traffic light' systems to help identify nutritious food and educate about health choices.

In addition, the proposed Children's Food Bill is supported by the Liberal Democrats. A report on the proposed Bill entitled 'Why we need a new law, not more voluntary approaches' highlights the lobbying power of the food industry. In spite of recent government initiatives, it is estimated that for every £1 spent promoting healthy eating, £500 is spent marketing unhealthy food. By limiting advertising of unhealthy foods to children, many parents will feel under less pressure to succumb to their children's demands of 'fast food'.

In terms of provision of food in schools, the Liberal Democrats have developed a range of policies to ensure that children understand food and what makes for a healthy diet and to require schools to develop nutrition policies for school meals, vending machines and other food available at school. We welcome the removal of vending machines selling chocolate, fizzy drinks and crisps to encourage young people to seek alternative snack options.

Any healthy lifestyle requires an element of exercise and activity, which is why we want to encourage more 'active play' in schools to ensure that all children enjoy some kind of physical activity. We also call for at least two hours per week of exercise/sport in schools, and for government sport funding on participative activities which improve health. Our transport policies also ensure that opportunities for walking, cycling and use of public transport are built in at the design stage to encourage more walking and cycling to school.

Fundamentally, there really is no choice but for the government to make significant interventions. We have allowed food marketing companies to influence our diets and the television media to further develop our already sedentary lifestyles. We need to empower our citizens to lead a healthy lifestyle and action now is imperative.