30 July 2002 Healthy Eating and Healthy Exercise Research Programme

Promoting Healthy Eating and Exercise Promotion at St Albans School

Children today find that they are the target market for fast food chains, computer games and television programmes. Research has shown that fitness levels are dropping and children are becoming more overweight.

Dr Mike Hamlin from Lincoln University is currently undertaking some research based at two schools in association with Vicki Marsh a Health Promoter with Crown Public Health.

At St Albans Primary School over 80 children have signed consent forms with their parents to assist with this research which is a first in New Zealand. Photographs have been taken of the contents of lunchboxes before morning interval and again after lunch. The contents are listed to establish the nutritional make-up and a note kept of food that is not eaten. Children will be timed over a 550 metre distance at the start of the programme and then at the end of the project to test their fitness levels.

During the term there will be a parent education programme through the weekly school newsletter as well as Seminars for parents on nutrition. Teachers will take a daily fitness programme with their classes and families will be encouraged to undertake active activities together out of school hours. A large range of teaching resources have been obtained by the school from various support agencies to assist teachers.

At the end of the term the contents of the lunchboxes will again be studied as well as the fitness levels of the children. This will demonstrate what effect the education programme has had with nutrition and fitness levels within the school. A second school is involved where no promotion/education has taken place to be used as a comparison for this research.

What are the aims of the research?

The aim is to achieve some indication of the current nutritional make-up of primary children's school lunches and to see how the nutritional make-up of the lunchboxes change after an integrated intervention programme highlighting healthy eating. Fitness levels of primary school children will also be measured at the start and end of the programme to see how these levels change with an intervention programme increasing the awareness of physical activity for health. It is also hoped that after feedback from the teachers involved that some practical recommendations can be made to other schools who wish to incorporate such a programme into their school.

Why we need to research children's nutrition?

New Zealand children are becoming more overweight and less active which may lead to a greater risk of poor health and disease later in life. If we can positively influence the diet and physical activity of children we may be able to slow down and eventually reverse these disturbing trends. Increases in weight may come about through increased energy consumption or decreased energy expenditure. Currently New Zealand children's nutritional patterns, particularly at school, are not known. It is therefore important to gather baseline data on children's nutritional patterns and habits at school. If these are shown to be unhealthy, suitable intervention programmes need to be found to help educate children and parents on the benefits of a healthy diet (including lunchboxes). Physical activity also needs to be incorporated into daily life and it is important to investigate intervention programmes that may help children become more active. It is thought that healthier primary school children will grow up to be healthier adults resulting in a lower incidence of the chronic diseases associated with poor health, and ultimately a stress-free and enjoyable life.

What are the benefits of this research?

This study will allow researchers to gather baseline data on children's lunchbox nutrition. We need to know what the children are eating before we can make judgements on whether it is healthy or not. This research will also allow the researchers to see how lunchbox nutrition changes with an in-school intervention programme and whether an integrated physical activity programme conducted by the teachers with the help of outside agencies (e.g. The Heart Foundation) is successful in promoting improvements in fitness levels of the children. If poor health starts at the primary school age and continues into later life, there is a need for such programmes to educate and help manage children's health.

For more information, contact Dr Mike Hamlin, Lecturer in Health Exercise Science, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand