Call for cookery lessons in schools to reduce childhood obesity

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMay 8 2012

Health professionals, charity leaders and celebrities, including Steven Gerrard and Jamie Oliver, are calling for cookery lessons to be introduced to schools for all children aged between 4 and 14 years old.

The long list of experts in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister speak of the pride felt as Britain hosts the 2012 London Olympics and yet the feeling being “tainted” by having the highest rate of childhood obesity in Europe. A third of children in the UK are either obese or overweight at the age of nine years old.

The group says that the Olympic Games are an opportunity to tackle the rising obesity levels. Providing children with the skills to prepare and cook nutritious food would allow them to take control of their diet and perhaps encourage their families to eat healthily. They write to David Cameron that if the level of child obesity is allowed to continue rising, the NHS medical bill could reach £10 billion. This would be in order to tackle the increased incidence of heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure due to obesity and weight problems suffered by children.

Professor Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum said, “The 2012 Olympics provide a unique opportunity to improve the nation’s health and reduce the burden of obesity which leads to diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other conditions, and ultimately premature death.”

“However, sitting in front of the television, cheering our elite athletes on, while eating crisps and chocolates, drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is entirely counter-productive,” he said. “National enthusiasm must be accompanied by an improved diet and enhanced physical activity by the entire population, not just by our Olympians, for a significant difference to be made to the deteriorating health of the population.”

Charlie Powell, director of the Children’s Food Campaign said children needed necessary skills to cook healthy food to eat it. He pointed out that learning the cooking skills at school made sense and should be included in the National Curriculum. A spokesperson for the Department for Education said that the National Curriculum was currently under review.

Oliver has previously campaigned for healthier school dinners while Gerrard is an ambassador for the Get Up, Get Moving programme designed to increase awareness of physical activity and healthy eating. Other signatories to the letter include Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners; Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers; and Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.