Call for healthy eating teaching

The report says children do not know enough about healthy eating

A new report suggests that children in Wales do not understand the importance of healthy eating.

Researchers at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth interviewed 300 school sixth-formers, and found "worryingly" few knew how to keep a balanced diet.

The study says schools spend too much time on nutritional theory, and not enough time on cooking skills.

The research calls for radical changes in the teaching of health and nutrition in schools.

A total of 297 A-level biology pupils from 34 secondary schools throughout Wales took part.

Less than a fifth of those questioned highlighted the importance of eating fruit as part of a healthy diet.

The study also looked at the difference between perceptions of healthy eating between male and female students.

• Boys understood being healthy as an absence of illness.
• Girls recognised the importance of a balanced diet and regular exercise.
• More girls knew about the importance of eating carbohydrates, vegetables and fruit.
• Boys thought genetically modified foods were more healthy than frozen foods.
• Girls were sceptical of GM foods.

The leader of the research, Dr Malcolm Thomas said more practical teaching was needed in schools.

"It may well be that students are able to recall the concept of a 'balanced diet' for examination purposes, but are unable to interpret it further," he said.

"Insufficient emphasis is now placed on consolidating practical food preparation skills.

Schools are being urged to give more practical cooking lessons

"It appears that the health education message of eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day does not appear to be getting across."

Emma Maynard from Cardiff, said she does lots of cooking at home with her son Liam, but would like more to be done at school as well.

"I don't think they do any cooking at school. They do lots of fact sheets about what they should and shouldn't eat," she said.

"I think it would probably be better for them to do some cooking than to just reading fact sheets."

Judith John, a community dietician, said that the importance of healthy eating must be taught to children as early as possible.

"Most people actually do know the main differences between healthy and non healthy but its actually having the motivation and support to actually do it in practice," she said.

"It has to be a joint approach in school and in the home, and from a very early age because what you learn in childhood can lead to your habits when you're older."