Parenting: When healthy eating became a class act

The vexed issue of overweight children is one that parents, teachers, policy-makers and even medical professionals tip-toe around. But two Co Roscommon teenagers dived straight in with a logical, practical response to try to make a difference.

And it seems they have. The results of a three-month pilot project devised by the two students from St Nathy’s College show a significant drop in the weight profile of a group of primary school children.

It was achieved through the introduction of a daily 25-minute exercise programme for pupils at Lisacul National School, as well as the promotion of healthy eating among them and their parents. Children had their body mass index (BMI) recorded before the programme started in September, through private, anonymous weigh-ins at the school, and then again before the Christmas holidays.

The follow-up weigh-in showed the percentage of children who were overweight or obese had gone down from 32 per cent to 23 per cent. And while 15 per cent of the children’s BMI had tipped into the “obese” range first time around, this was reduced to 11 per cent after the programme.

So 77 per cent of the pupils now have a BMI within “normal” parameters, compared with 68 per cent before.

The idea for the initiative came as friends Aisling Gallagher and Aoife Guilfoyle were being driven to school one morning last January and heard Janas Harrington of University College Cork speaking on Newstalk Breakfast about rising obesity in primary schools.

“We were talking about it in the car and the rest of the day in school – wondering why is it on the rise in primary schools?” says Aisling (17). “We were so surprised. I have nieces, nephews and cousins, and you see them running around all the time.”

They decided to raise it with St Nathy’s physics teacher, Oliver Brady, who, as Aisling explains, is big into science projects. When they approached, asking if they could talk to him about obesity, there was a momentary misunderstanding: “I had put on a bit of weight recently and I genuinely got offended,” he recalls.

Hastily reassuring him it was nothing personal, they said they wanted to do a survey to gauge the level of public understanding about obesity. The results of this showed that 50 per cent of people were unaware obesity was linked to type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

They also included a question at the end with photographs of two men, dressed in good suits – one slim, one overweight. Although the only information given was that both were solicitors, when respondents were asked for adjectives to describe both men and say which of them was more successful, words such as “lazy” frequently came up for the overweight man while 74 per cent said the slim man was more successful – deciding that on body image alone.

Bias startling

The girls found the bias startling. “If they judge obese adults, what percentage of the population also judge obese children?” they wondered.

The project grew from there. They were determined to see what could be done about obesity in children so young and immersed themselves in research. Being fans of RTÉ's Operation Transformation, they set up meetings in Dublin with both weight-loss expert Dr Eva Orsmond and fitness trainer Karl Henry, as well as consultant endocrinologist Dr Francis Finucane at University Hospital Galway.

The girls used the professional advice they had gathered to devise a scientifically-based exercise programme and healthy eating tips for families.

When they went back to Brady to say they had signed up Lisacul National School (where Aisling’s mother is secretary) for their programme, he was a bit sceptical.

“Then they told me they were going to measure the BMIs and every single alarm bell in my head went off, ‘this is not going to work’. So I tried to talk them down,” he admits.

However, as the girls pointed out, “The reason nothing ever gets done,” says Brady, “is because of how sensitive it is.”

The principal at Lisacul, Angela Kerrane, was impressed by the girls’ proposals but both she and they knew the parents would have to be won over to the idea.

Aisling and Aoife reckoned celebrity endorsement would help so were delighted when Karl Henry agreed to come down for the launch night in early September. Other guest speakers included Sarah Mulligan from the Roscommon Partnership and local dietitian Eva Walshe.

Information sheets had gone out to parents before that and any concerns had been addressed at a follow-up meeting. Of the 71 pupils at the time, 68 were signed up for the weigh-in. “We made sure that the parents were informed that it wasn’t going to be done publicly and the children were just assigned a number,” says Kerrane.

A nurse came in to the school to measure and weigh each child privately in a room, with only Brady there to record the data. Aisling and Aoife, who live locally, didn’t go in and codes were assigned instead of names for the recording of the BMIs.

As far as the children were concerned, it was just a brief visit to the nurse, which they would be accustomed to at least once a year anyway. They were given no feedback about weight and were delighted to be enjoying extra PE each day.

One of the school’s three full-time teachers, Kelly Donovan, a keen Gaelic footballer, offered to lead the sessions, which are run at 12.15pm each day during their break. Pupils rotate through different outdoor “stations” for 25 minutes, doing activities such as skipping, jogging on the spot and bean-bag throwing. When it’s wet, the exercises are adapted to be done inside.

Aisling and Aoife showed further initiative by approaching Duffy’s SuperValu in Ballaghaderreen to sponsor the project and it agreed to provide 100 pieces of fruit/vegetables free to the school every Monday morning. This has helped children to opt for fruit as a snack.

The school has been “encouraging” rather than “enforcing” healthy lunches among pupils, believing that outright bans can antagonise parents, says Kerrane. “We have felt there is more of an effort now with the lunches and the variety they are bringing in.”

Pressure on parents

She believes moves towards healthier eating are being made at home too. “I would say the children are putting almost pressure on parents –[telling them] ‘this is what we should be doing’.

“If you get them at this age, they will bring that notion home. It is surprising how incidentally these things happen,” says Kerrane. “To see a child of nine or 10 eating a whole pepper, it is unbelievable. I am amazed myself.”

The lowering of BMIs apart, the teachers have noticed an improvement in the children’s attention and energy levels in the latter half of the day.

“In the afternoons we seem to be able to get more from them, definitely,” says Kerrane, adding that they will continue with the exercise programme in the new term. “The parents have been very supportive and the children have taken part in the exercise very happily.”

Although Aisling and Aoife were working with a relatively small sample – 60 children had their BMI recorded in September and just 56 in December as one family had moved away – it is still a very positive outcome for all concerned. (The four missing children were all within the normal weight range, according to Brady, so their absence would not have skewed the statistics in a positive direction.)

The two girls, now in sixth year, had been disappointed when the outline of their project was not accepted last autumn for this week’s BT Young Scientist competition but they persevered anyway.

“The main thing is we weren’t really doing it for the competition or self-gratitude, we were just doing it for the kids and to help stop obesity,” explains Aoife (17). It is now registered as a project with the Young Social Innovators scheme.

The next step is to seek funding to provide each pupil with a pedometer to encourage them to keep active outside school as well.

“We’re absolutely delighted with the results,” says Brady. “There’s no point in stopping it now.”

[ swayman@irishtimes.com ]