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UK children 'not eating five-a-day'

14/11/2008

British children are not eating their 'five-a-day' fruit and vegetable portions, according to research published today.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in Britain and the government hopes to remedy it by improving diet and exercise regimes.

A study published in the BMC Public Health journal found levels of physical activity among young people are currently meeting government recommendations.

Over two-thirds of children were accumulating at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day.

But only 56.8 per cent were eating enough fruit while 50 per cent are not eating as many vegetables as they should.

The researchers from the University of East Anglia established their findings by studying the diet, physical activity and body shape of 2,064 year five pupils in Norfolk.

They believe their findings should be taken note of by policymakers.

"The fact that almost 70 per cent of children meet national physical activity guidelines indicates that a prevention of decline, rather than increasing physical activity levels, might be an appropriate intervention target, although there is some uncertainty over whether these recommended levels are really sufficient," they write.

"Promotion of daily fruit and vegetable intake in this age group is also warranted, possibly focusing on children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds."