Alex

Given that this is arguably a behavioural intervention, and given that it looks as though it might widen health inequalities, do you think it is good or bad?

Best, 
Adam

-----Original Message-----
From: The Health Equity Network (HEN) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of alex scott-samuel
Sent: 03 April 2010 18:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Jamie Oliver's school dinners shown to have improved academic results

Jamie Oliver's school dinners shown to have improved academic results

Absences down after chef changed junk food menu - a result which is a 
boost for celebrity as he struggles for US support

Rachel Williams, The Guardian, 29 March

He has been ridiculed by the chat show host David Letterman, accused of 
high-handedness by a local radio DJ and reduced to tears by recalcitrant 
fast food-consumers during his war on American obesity. He has even dressed up 
as a giant pea pod in an attempt to turn the US on to his healthy eating 
agenda.

So Jamie Oliver <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/oliver> will 
doubtless be relieved to hear of a timely reminder of his more gilded 
reputation back home. Today an audience of prestigious economists was 
told that the healthier school dinners introduced by the celebrity chef 
had not only significantly improved pupils' test results, but also cut 
the number of days they were off sick. The effects, researchers said, 
were comparable in magnitude to those seen after the introduction of the 
literacy hour in the 90s.

The proportion of 11-year-olds in Greenwich, south London, who did well 
in English and science rose after Oliver swept "turkey twizzlers" and 
chicken dinosaurs off canteen menus in favour of creamy coconut fish and 
Mexican bean wraps, according to a study of results in the south east 
London borough.

The number of "authorised absences" - which are generally due to illness 
- fell by 15% in the wake of his 2004 Feed Me Better campaign, brought 
into the nation's sitting rooms via the Channel 4 series Jamie's School 
Dinners.

But the annual conference of the Royal Economic Society also heard that 
the poorest pupils - those who are eligible for free school meals - did not seem to 
benefit. Instead it was mainly children from more middle class 
homes who saw their scores boosted after Oliver's junk food ban was 
implemented.

The researchers estimated that the proportion of students who got level 
4 in their English Sats at key stage 2 increased by 4.5 percentage 
points after his intervention.

The percentage who got level 5 in science was up 6 percentage points, 
they reported.

Oliver described the research results as "fantastic". "It's the first 
time a proper study has been done into the positive effects of the 
campaign and it strongly suggests we were right all along," he said.

"Even while doing the programme, we could see the benefits to children's 
health and teachers. We could see that asthmatic kids weren't having to 
use the school inhalers so often, for example.

"We could see that it made them calmer and therefore able to learn."

The chef said it was further evidence that faster movement was needed 
towards improving take-up of nutritious, home-cooked school meals across 
the country, by training dinner ladies, getting kitchens and dining 
halls up to scratch and educating children and parents.

The presentation of the findings comes at a convenient time for Oliver, 
whose US version of the Greenwich project, currently being shown on the 
ABC network, has seen locals in America's unhealthiest city, Huntington, 
West Virginia, give him short shrift.

"We don't want to sit around and eat lettuce all day," radio DJ Rod 
Willis snapped at Oliver during the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food 
Revolution. "You come to town and you say you're going to change our 
menus. I just don't think you should come here and tell us what to do."

Last week the Essex-born chef appeared on the Late Show, and was forced 
to listen to host David Letterman predict he would fail in his crusade 
to transform people's health. Letterman insisted diet pills were the 
only way to lose weight in the US.

Michèle Belot, of Oxford university's Nuffield College, and Jonathan 
James from the University of Essex, monitored results and absences in 
five neighbouring local authorities - chosen for their socio-economic 
similarities to Greenwich - as a control. They looked at figures from 
2002 to 2007 - skipping the school year 2004/5, when the new menus were 
introduced.

The effects seen, they said, were particularly impressive given that 
they emerged within a relatively short period of time, and that the 
campaign was not even directly targeted at improving educational outcomes.

"As indicated by the relative fall in absenteeism, it is likely that 
children's health improved as well, which could have long-lasting 
consequences for the children involved not only through improvement in 
educational achievements, but also in terms of their life expectancy, 
quality of life and productive capacity on the labour market," the study 
said.

A survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers presented at its 
conference in Manchester today found that almost seven in 10 union 
members thought all primary school pupils should be given free school meals.

The same number wanted controls in place to limit the sale of chocolate, 
sweets, crisps and deep fried foods.

A third said the dining room at their school was unsuitable, and 56% 
said they had seen pupil behaviour deteriorate after eating food with a 
high fat or sugar content.

James said the research team was now looking at why children from poorer 
homes seem to miss out on the benefits of the changes brought in by Oliver.

"This is a source of concern, in particular in light of using school 
meals as a way of reducing disparities in diet across children," the 
report said.

It suggested the difference might be because those from richer 
backgrounds adjusted more easily to changes in school meals, or because 
the less privileged students were more represented among those getting 
lowest scores, and improvements were harder to achieve for those at the 
bottom than in the middle.

Meanwhile there are signs that the tide in the US may be turning in 
Oliver's favour just as it did in Greenwich, where initial hostility 
from dinner ladies eventually turned to adoration. More than 100,000 
people have signed an online petition supporting his campaign for better 
school food. After he appeared with Oprah Winfrey on Friday, 7.5 million 
people tuned in to watch his show.

The old Greenwich menu...

Burgers and chips

Sausage rolls

Fish fingers

Drumstick-shaped turkey nuggets

Chicken nuggets (pictured)

And the new one 

Roast beef and all the trimmings

Mushroom and lentil bake

Mexican bean wrap (pictured)

Lamb and vegetable pie

Creamy coconut fish


http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/mar/29/jamie-oliver-school-dinners-meals

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