WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Health Alert: Finland's fight against childhood obesity

Health Alert: Finland's fight against childhood obesity

(Helsinki, Finland) Feb. 6, 2004 - On the playground of their school near Helsinki, Finland, children on the cutting edge of the country's fight against fat are not allowed to sit around, even if it's freezing

At the end of every lesson there's a compulsory exercise break. School lunches are free and are the only option for the 10-year-olds. Fatty snacks like potato chips, chocolates and fizzy drinks are banned. Instead on one example menu there's pork curry, rice and salad.

The students only have skimmed milk to drink, and, if they're still hungry they can fill up on toast with low-fat margarine. Lunch is eaten at their desk while teacher Henna Pirskanen plays a key role in educating their palates, "We never talk about hamburgers or these sorts of things, or pizzas or something like that. Rubbish food, or whatever you call it."

A close eye is kept on the children's weight. Every pupil is weighed once a term, and if the teachers are worried about them getting too fat they'll be sent to see the nurse, who checks to see they're having a balanced diet.

Pekka Puska of the Finnish National Health Institute says, "If you ask people in the surveys, they say 'Yes, of course we know it, but it's so difficult in real life because of what food industry does, what catering does. We would like it to be easier for us'. So government has to intervene."

Finnish families have taken the government's advice, attending evening classes together.

posted 10:55am by Chris Rees