Parents want vending machine ban

A high proportion of children regularly drank fizzy drinks

Parents want vending machines selling sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks banned in schools, a poll shows.

Two-thirds of youngsters eat a packet of fat-saturated crisps most days of the week, the Times Educational Supplement found.

Some 41% consume sugar-heavy drinks at a similar rate, its survey of 736 parents of five to 16 year olds says.

The TES found 79% of parents - and 84% of mothers - wanted vending machines taken out of schools.

Study success

The findings come as a study in the British Medical Journal suggests encouraging children to drink fewer fizzy drinks can reduce obesity.

Pupils at six primary schools in Christchurch in Dorset were enrolled in an education programme, which was designed to discourage them from drinking fizzy drinks.

The prevalence of obesity is now three times greater than it was 20 years ago Professor Neil Armstrong, Exeter University

Over the course of a year, their fizzy drink consumption dropped by a glass a day on average.

This compares to pupils who were not involved in the study whose consumption increased slightly - by 0.2 glasses on average.

In addition, the proportion of students who had been involved in the programme who became overweight or obese during this period increased by just 0.2%.

This compares to an increase of 7.6% in children who had not been involved in the study.

The researchers said the programme could be introduced in other schools without much difficulty.

"Our intervention was simple, involved no teacher training and could be easily implemented by a health educator working in several schools," they wrote.

The TES survey found 45% of children ate at least five more fatty foods than healthy ones a week - its definition of an unhealthy diet.

Middle-class children were more likely to eat healthily than those from the lowest social groups.

TV and computers

While 53% of children of managers and professionals ate healthily, the same was true for only 22% of those whose parents were on benefits.

Despite the barrage of messages telling children they needed to eat well, their diets deteriorated as they got older, the survey showed.

While 39% of five to 11 year olds had unhealthy diets, the proportion rose to 51% of 11 to 16 year olds.

The poll also showed parents believed children spent an average of nine hours every weekend watching television and playing computer games.

That was twice as long as they spent on physical activity.

Professor Neil Armstrong, director of the children's health and exercise research centre at Exeter University, said: "The prevalence of obesity is now three times greater than it was 20 years ago.

"It appears to be increasing more rapidly in England than anywhere else in Europe."

The Department for Education and Skills said it was up to head teachers and school governors whether or not they installed vending machines.