School Anti-Obesity Plans ‘Don’t Work’

School run programmes to help kids eat healthier and combat obesity are unlikely to have any lasting effect, so says the British Medical Journal.

More than 600 pupils took part in a 12-month programme to combat obesity. The study found that there were no improvements in the children’s diet or activity levels. They also said that a sugar reduction programme and the government’s sugar tax should help too.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham said families, communities and the food industry probably had more of an influence than initiatives pushed by schools.

Many schools have tried to limit what children eat, banning certain items in packed lunch boxes. One such case saw a school under fire for banning sausage rolls.

This lead to the discussion of, do schools have the right to dictate what is in a child’s lunchbox?

Certain schools ban sugary drinks due to the calorific content and the Children’s Food Trust recommends that they include healthy snacks, opposed to things like crisps and chocolate. The conversation of childhood obesity has been raging for some time now.

The programme introduced in schools included things like healthy cooking workshops, highlighting local family physical activities and a daily 30 minutes to do optional exercise.

It still isn’t enough to combat the growing problem of childhood obesity. One in five children is obese in schools.

Maybe getting rid of Turkey Twizzlers was just the tip of the iceberg?