07/11/2005

Poster campaign to target child obesity

The British Heart Foundation has launched a poster campaign, showing images of burgers containing bones and gristle, to help the fight against child obesity.

The charity’s Food4Thought campaign includes a range of posters, showing the common ingredients found in foods such as burgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets. The posters are partly covered with a ‘censored’ stickers for display in public, but the full ingredients can be seen on the charity’s website at: www.bhf.org.uk/food

It is hoped that the campaign will encourage children to improve their diets and make healthier food choices.

The BHF will also deliver a ‘policy pizza’ to 10 Downing Street today, which includes a list of recommendations aimed at improving children’s’ health. These include a ban on the marketing of unhealthy food and drinks directly to children.

The BHF has enlisted the help of several celebrities in the campaign, including cricketer Andrew Flintoff and sports presenter Gabby Logan, who will deliver the ‘policy pizza’ to Prime Minister Tony Blair today.

The campaign follows a survey conducted by the BHF, which found that over a third of eight to fourteen-year-olds surveyed did not know that chips were made from potatoes. Nearly one in ten believed that they were made from oil, while others believed the main ingredients were eggs, flour or apples. Another 37% also did not know that cheese was made from milk.

It is estimated that around 440,000 UK children will become overweight or obese within the next two years, with one quarter predicted to be obese by 2020.

(KMcA/SP)

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