Are we learning the right lessons?

The new EU healthy eating campaign for children is welcome, but we need to address the bigger picture.

Mariann Fischer Boel, European commissioner for agriculture, has launched a new healthy eating campaign for children under the slogan “Eat it, Drink it, Move it.”

"When we look around and see the number of overweight children, it is clear that we must act now," said Fischer Boel in a press release to mark the occasion.

The campaign has been set up to support the provision of milk, fruit and vegetables in schools and encourage children to eat healthily from an early age.

It is however also important to address the social and economic conditions which contribute to children becoming overweight.

Factors such as children’s education can have a lasting impact upon long-term health, according to a report from the WHO on health inequalities.

“There is emerging evidence that integrating social and emotional learning in curricula in primary and secondary schools as well as attention to the children’s physical and cognitive/language development...potentially would have consequent long-term gains for health,” the report says.

Education as a determinant of health is among the topics addressed by the Gradient project, which looks at how public health policies affect the health inequalities among families and children.

Tackling obesity, the WHO report says, means addressing the wide range of social issues which cause it.

“The global obesity epidemic is a good example of a socially patterned health outcome that is a consequence of changes in a constellation of social factors,” the report says.

You can find out more about the EU healthy eating campaign at http://ec.europa.eu/tasty-bunch

The WHO report on health inequalities can be downloaded from here.