Expert wants free school meals to help beat obesity
Email Print Normal font Large font Louise Hall
September 24, 2006
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AdvertisementSTATE governments could cut childhood obesity rates and improve learning ability by providing free, healthy meals to all school students, an international expert will tell a public health conference tomorrow.
Derek Colquhoun advised celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on school meals for his influential TV series Jamie's School Dinners, which led to the British Government handing over an extra £220 million ($552 million) for better food in school canteens.
Professor Colquhoun has also spearheaded a three-year research project for Hull City Council in Britain, which has been providing free, low-fat, low-sugar meals to 22,000 pupils in 77 primary schools.
The scheme, called "Eat Well Do Well", provides children with breakfast, a hot lunch and an after-school snack each day.
Fatty burgers, chips and fried food from local takeaways and the school canteen are out, replaced by low-fat pasta, potatoes, salad, fish, curries and fruit.
"Some schools have their own kitchens where they make the meals to a standard, nutritionally healthy menu, and some schools get their meals delivered," Professor Colquhoun said.
"The menu changes with the seasons and is rotated every two weeks."
At the Public Health Association of Australia annual conference in Sydney, Professor Colquhoun will detail findings of the Hull project.
He said evidence suggested that improving the nutritional value of school meals not only tackled obesity but had a significant impact on children's behaviour and ability to concentrate in class.
Teachers are reporting that children who attend breakfast clubs before school in particular are much readier to learn.
"We look at self-esteem, communication and collaboration and the teachers are telling us the initiative is having a major impact on a 'readiness to learn' scale," Professor Colquhoun said.
A survey of the lunch-box contents of Australian school children by Deakin University last year found 90 per cent had "junk food" - energy-dense, micronutrient-poor snacks - including biscuits, cakes, muesli or fruit bars, packaged snacks and chocolates or lollies.
The study of 1681 primary schoolchildren in Victoria found children who used the canteen had a higher energy intake than those who brought food from home.
The report, published in the European Journal Of Clinical Nutrition, concluded the dietary patterns of children at school were "disturbing".
"Significant improvements need to be made to canteen menus in order to decrease the amount of energy-dense, micronutrient-poor food purchased by students," it said.
"Parents need to be encouraged to remove energy-dense snacks from their children's lunch boxes and replace them with fruit and other nutritious alternatives."
Source: The Sun-Herald
Nutrition and Childhood Obesity
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