Experts call on schools for more food education

19 Aug 2008

Schools need to extend free fruit break across junior children as well as infants, in order to reduce levels of childhood obesity, nutrition experts suggest.

According to Justine Sharpe, head of nutrition and dietetic services at Mayday University Hospital, food and diet education should form part of the main national curriculum from an early age.

"The focus should be on achieving health, self esteem and good grades through good diet," she said. "Teachers will need support to deliver these food and nutrition programmes."

The Department of Health reported that between 1995 and 2003, the prevalence of obesity among children aged two to 10 rose from 9.9% to 13.7%.

Overall, obesity levels were similar for both boys and girls aged between two and 10. For boys, obesity grew from 9.6% in 1995 to 14.9% in 2003, for girls from 10.3% to 12.5%.

Almost 20% of children living in households with parents who are overweight were themselves obese compared with 6.7% of children living in households where neither parents were overweight.

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