Charity calls for early years investment to combat obesity
Cathy Wallace
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The government's strategy to combat childhood obesity will be threatened if more investment is not put into early years, a leading childcare charity has said.
Last week Children's Secretary Ed Balls announced a cash injection of £21m for the School Food Trust, to help improve the quality of school meals.
But Neil Leitch, director of the Pre-school Learning Alliance's Feeding Young Imaginations campaign, said the focus on school-aged children was a fundamental flaw in anti-obesity policies.
"Neglecting the diets of pre-school children will undermine the effectiveness of later intervention, and may threaten the long-term success of the government's obesity strategy," he said.
"If the government is serious about bringing about long-term change in the nation's eating habits, early intervention is critical."
But Neil Leitch, director of the Pre-school Learning Alliance's Feeding Young Imaginations campaign, said the focus on school-aged children was a fundamental flaw in anti-obesity policies.
"Neglecting the diets of pre-school children will undermine the effectiveness of later intervention, and may threaten the long-term success of the government's obesity strategy," he said.
"If the government is serious about bringing about long-term change in the nation's eating habits, early intervention is critical."
