CHILDHOOD obesity is one of the biggest challenges Scotland faces as we try to turn around our nation's poor health record.
According to a Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) report this year, 28% of children in Scotland are either overweight or obese.
Other figures have shown that more than two in ten children in primary one face the same risk.
Politicians have long called for a greater emphasis on physical education at school, but there is now a belated focus on the sugar and fat content in what we eat and drink.
Of course it is important for each adult to think responsibly about the food they, and their children eat. However, the companies behind unhealthy foods must also face up to their own responsibilities, just as tobacco and alcohol companies have been forced to do. As such, the UK Government’s levy on sugary drink producers may be a limited measure to tackle the obesity crisis, but it should at least have the welcome effect of shifting the conversation onto the regulation of products.
However, while recent developments are welcome, all public bodies that provide services involving children must do their bit to ensure that nutrition is promoted.
In theory, North Lanarkshire council takes children’s health very seriously. The “healthy eating” part of its website states: “Your child's growth, development and educational needs are important to us. A healthy and nutritious diet helps to contribute to their overall growth and decreases the risk of obesity and other health problems.” So far, so good.
In practice, however, the same council allowed multinational dairy firm Muller to enter a primary school and carry out a consumer test of its strawberry and chocolate milkshakes.
The danger with such a practice is obvious: pupils as young as five could develop a taste for sugary drinks, rather than healthy alternatives which should be the focus.
The product test also raises the question of how many food and drink companies have been given access to pupils from councils across the country. Ministers, in conjunction with COSLA, need to review the guidance in this area and ensure that local authorities enable, rather than harm, healthy eating messages.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here