Free school dinners ‘led to fall in childhood obesity rates’

[Northerner]

The provision of free school meals is a useful weapon in the fight against childhood obesity, according to a groundbreaking study, whose findings are likely to be studied closely by health officials and politicians amid mounting concerns about the problem.

A quarter of UK children are overweight or obese when they start school aged four or five, and this rises to a third of children by the time they leave primary school at the age of 11.

The new study, by Birgitta Rabe and Angus Holford at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, tracked the impact of the policy, which provides a free midday meal for all four- to seven-year-olds in English primary schools. It concludes that free school meals make a valuable contribution to tackling Britain’s childhood obesity crisis.

Free school dinners ‘led to fall in childhood obesity rates’

Study shows school meals better for pupils than packed lunches

www.theguardian.com

 

[grovesy]

I have seen one of the Ministers in the Health Department (sorry cant remember her name or exact title)talking about this a couple of times it seems to high on her agenda.

 

[mikeyB]

Aye, and they put the weight on they lost during the school hols, as it says in the report.

 

[nonethewiser]

Didn't qualify for free school meals, we walked home & back for lunch, mothers homemade soup with bread beans on toast usual fare. No worries about calorie consumption then as plenty of exercise, no sitting in front of game consoles, there lies the problem, at least partly anyway.