Major Research Project Reveals Advances In School Healthy Eating, England

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 17 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PST

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The culmination of a year's independent research has found that teachers, parents and pupils are benefiting from a dedicated healthy eating and physical exercise programme.

More than half of the children involved in the research said they were eating more healthily as a result of the PhunkyFoods programme, which has been adopted by more than 500 schools across England.

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), an internationally regarded charity which has been at the forefront of independent educational research for 60 years and regularly contributes to Government policy, studied the impact of PhunkyFoods in 18 primary schools across the country between November 2007 and September 2008.

Its findings include that in schools using PhunkyFoods for one year:

- Parents and teachers saw improvements in the knowledge, awareness, attitudes and behaviour towards exercise and healthy eating
- More than half of children said they ate more healthily as a result
- More than half of children demonstrated that they had improved their understanding of why healthy eating was important
- The number of pupils who could provide a sophisticated response about what 'balance' meant to them in diet doubled after PhunkyFoods had been delivered

These findings were based on interviews with more than one hundred pupils, teachers and parents.

The NFER concluded that PhunkyFoods is "Popular with the whole school community and clearly helps expand, embed and enhance health-related teaching, through increasing school staff competence and confidence, complementing other initiatives and positively impacting on pupil knowledge, attitudes and behaviour."

Developed by nutrition expert Purely Nutrition with backing from Northern Foods in 2005, PhunkyFoods is supported by a consortium that includes Nestlé and Cargill. The consortium jointly supports the programme, encouraging healthier lifestyles by providing the funding for the scheme's expansion to a growing number of schools across the UK.

Currently 517 UK primary schools are benefiting from the curriculum-based programme which provides weekly lesson plans for each primary school year group. Through art, drama, music, play and hands-on experience with food children learn key healthy eating and physical activity messages in a light hearted and fun manner.

Dr Jennie Cockroft, director of Nutrition at Purely Nutrition, said: "These results help confirm that it really is possible to improve children's eating habits through early intervention and education - now we need the Government to recognise the progress we are making and to support us."

It would cost approximately £7m for every primary school child in the country to receive PhunkyFoods, a fraction of the £372m investment unveiled in January this year by the Government to tackle obesity - a key part of which is educating children.

The independent research, which evaluated the impact and implementation of PhunkyFoods in eighteen case study schools, involved schools undergoing detailed assessments before and after they had begun teaching the scheme. More than one hundred pupils, teachers and parents were interviewed about their experience and the impact of the programme.

Dr Cockroft continued: "The only way to create a lasting benefit is to ensure children have the knowledge to make the right decisions on their own, without the need for constant supervision or strict rules. PhunkyFoods clearly has a positive impact on children, teachers and parents - now we have to ensure that good practice is spread across the country."

Earlier in the year South West Essex PCT became the first health authority in the country to roll out PhunkyFoods across every school in its area.

Melody Williams, head of health improvement for children and young people at South West Essex PCT, said: "PhunkyFoods has amassed a strong track record in delivering real health benefits without placing undue pressure on teachers or the curriculum. It's a great way of getting schools and individual teachers working together to help address the growing issue of childhood obesity."

Purely Nutrition