Obesity timebomb sparks healthy snacks campaign

Jun 7 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL is facing an obesity “timebomb” and the possibility of a future epidemic, it was revealed last night.

The warning came as the city council replaced its traditional vending machines with healthy alternatives in two of its biggest leisure centres, Everton and Alsop Park.

A council spokesman said: “Clearly, one of the biggest issues we are facing is an obesity timebomb which is ticking away.

“Our priority is to pioneer projects which encourage children to address their eating habits as this is the biggest health concern we are currently facing.

He added: “This is a three month pilot scheme which, if successful, will be rolled out across all council managed leisure facilities.

“Half of the old machines, which contain things like crisps, chocolate, sweets and muffins, have been replaced by new ones stocking fresh fruit, packs of dried fruit, cereal bars and yoghurts.

“At the same time as introducing these new machines we have replaced normal crisps in the old machines with low-fat baked varieties, so there is still an option but it is just healthier.

He said about 50% of people chose the healthy options. “We will evaluate the trial results at the end of the month to see if it is viable to do the same across the whole of the city,” he said.

The council’s move coincided with the Public Health Network launching their Snack Right campaign to encourage pre-schoolers to swap unhealthy snacks for a healthy ones.

Snack Right aims to get the youngsters to try fresh fruit and vegetables and to prove to their parents they actually enjoy it.

It is also promoting Healthy Start, the national food voucher scheme for low-income families.

Vouchers are worth between £2.80 and £5.60 a week, depending on parental status and age of the child, and are redeemable against fresh fruit, vegetables, and milk.

Dr Paula Grey, director of public health for Liverpool PCT, who helped establish the campaign, said: “We want to provide our children with the best start in life.

“If we can encourage parents to give children fresh fruit and vegetables as snacks instead of foods high in fat, salt and sugar there will be improvement in their development and growth as well as their long term health.”

Dr Grey also revealed that 80% of unhealthy snacks were bought by parents and 85% were eaten in the family home.

She added statistics suggested if the average person swapped one standard snack a day for a healthier one there would be 7,000 fewer deaths in the UK each year.

Speaking at a Snack Right event at Wavertree Children’s Centre, Carol Johnson-Eyre, one of the campaign’s project managers, added: “We hope to show the parents as much as we do the children that fresh fruit snacks are available, taste great and are much better for our youngsters health.

carolineinnes