SCHOOL MEALS

Researchers say that offering less variety on school dinner menus could help fight obesity. A study found that offering a variety of different foods can encourage overeating, while a monotonous menu can help reduce calorie intake. Research has already shown that people become disinterested in a particular food if they are repeatedly exposed to it. Known as 'habituation', it is the same reaction as is seen in a tolerance to drugs, but results in a disinterest in eating the food. But there has been little rigorous research investigating whether healthy-weight and overweight individuals have different habituation responses. Nicole Avena and Mark Gold, of the American Society for Nutrition, studied 16 non-obese women and 16 obese, and split them into two groups.

One group underwent a weekly food exposure experiment for five weeks, and the others a daily test over five days. During each session, they were asked to complete a task, after which they were rewarded with a portion of macaroni and cheese. They could work for as much food as they wanted. Whereas weekly food exposure saw calorific intake increase, daily exposure saw it decrease. There were few differences between the obese and the non obese women, reports the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Avena and Gold say this shows that reducing variety in food choices "may represent an important strategy for those trying to lose weight".

In an editorial, they ask "whether school-lunch planners and public health officials should note that diversity in the menu is not necessarily a virtue" but might instead "be associated with promoting excess food intake and increased body mass index." American Society for Nutrition spokeswoman Dr Shelley McGuire, PhD said, "We've known for years that foods- even eating, itself- can trigger release of various brain chemicals, some of which are also involved in what happens with drug addiction and withdrawal."

She added, "And, as can happen with substance abusers, tolerance or "habituation" can occur, meaning that repeated use (in this case, exposure to a food) is sometimes accompanied by a lack of response (in this case, disinterest in the food). The results of the study by Epstein and colleagues provides a very interesting new piece to the obesity puzzle by suggesting that meal monotony may actually lead to reduced calorie consumption. The trick will be balancing this concept with the importance of variety to good nutrition." (Source: Daily Telegraph, Jul/11)

Kids are being served up school dinners which cost just 32p a time - 10p LESS than is spent on prisoners. The shockingly low cost of the lunches - for which parents pay around £1.50 - was discovered in a survey of 10 school catering companies across England and Wales. Private caterers are responsible for providing meals for more than four million primary school children every day. The price per meal is dictated by local education authorities who invite private companies to bid for contracts to produce meals at that cost. And minimum nutritional standards set by the Government must be met by the company providing the meals.

But parents who rely on their child's school to provide them with their main meal will be concerned about whether the best possible ingredients can be bought for such a low price. A typical school lunch could include pizza, sausages or burgers, with baked beans, coleslaw and chips followed by jam tart with raspberry sauce. The study was carried out by Professor Kevin Morgan, of Cardiff University.

He said, "Catering staff are being asked to perform minor miracles when they try to deliver quality meals at a price which most people would consider impossibly low." Local Authority Caterers Association chairman Sue Kilbey denied that meals were being produced for 32p a time - or that quality was suffering. "We believe the cost is more like 45p to 50p as a national average," she said. "School caterers can and do produce a good quality meal at that level."

Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said, "We've always feared that privatising school meals has made a great difference". Nutrition expert Frankie Robinson warned, "32p does sound extremely cheap. Meals must be balanced, with meat, carbohydrates and vegetables."

TYPICAL SCHOOL LUNCH MENU
Pizza or sausages, baked beans, coleslaw and chips.
Jam tart with raspberry sauce.

Our gullible Prime Minister has again been fooled into backing a campaign with no evidence to support it. He said, “We’ll soon announce details of the new School Food Trust . . . which will draw on the remarkable work of Jamie Oliver in schools, and of the Soil Association in encouraging the use of organic and local produce in school meals . . .” The mullahs at the Soil Association must be delighted because they started “Food For Life” in 2003 with the aim that school meals should include at least 30% of organic ingredients.

Taxpayers, however, should be groaning with dismay at this complete waste of their money. Fresh food may be desirable in schools but organic food is not. It costs significantly more than conventional food but is no better for anyone. The Soil Association has long claimed that organic food has more vitamins and other valuable ingredients, but this is hogwash. The Food Standards Agency, the Government’s official adviser, has stated that “the current scientific evidence does not show that organic food is any safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food”.

The Advertising Standards Authority recently ruled that organic food cannot be described as “healthy” after a complaint from me about a Soil Association pamphlet. The ASA said that the association had failed to produce any scientific evidence to show that “organically produced food conveyed noticeable health benefits over and above the same food when conventionally produced or that a diet of organic food could guarantee no harmful effects”. Studies purporting to show health benefits from organic food are invariably junk science.

Tony Blair is not alone in swallowing this rot, the British National Party has also come out in support of organic food. There is a precedent for its stance: some of the early supporters of organic food were also Fascists. Jorian Jenks, who was interned as a Mosleyite in the Second World War, was one of the founders of the Soil Association. There are strong similarities between the campaigns for racial purity and food purity. To be successful they require a suspension of rationality and a pandering to prejudice, just the qualities that our leader shows, in spades. (Source: Times Online)

An extra 5p will be spent on ingredients for each lunchtime meal served in Derby's primary schools with the launch of a new healthier menu. But education officials say the revolution in the city's school kitchens has come about because of changes to the way education is funded in Derby and not because of recent media coverage given to school meals. The additional money means the city council is able to create a more balanced and nutritious diet in all but six of its 80 infant, junior and primary schools. The others each run their own catering service. New dishes include roast turkey, stuffing, vegetables and gravy, pork, toad-in-the-hole and breaded fish and the availability of salad bars in some schools.

The city council cabinet agreed that the cost of providing ingredients for each meal should rise from 47p to 52p. The Government has also promised to put a further £280m into meal funding nationally and ministers have recommended that each local education authority should spend at least 50p on each meal. The amount of money the city council will receive has not yet been decided. The city's catering service provides 13,000 meals a day with about 51% of Derby's 21,000 primary age pupils having lunches regularly at a cost of £1.35 each.

The rest of the cost for each meal, after ingredients, includes wages and cooking. Derbyshire County Council allocates 58p for meal ingredients but charges parents £1.40 for each meal. Colin Dill, city council head of catering services, said, "We introduced a pilot scheme of salad bars in some schools, which have been well-used, and have gradually been reducing the amount of processed food we use. Vegetarian dishes, such as bean burgers and quiches, are now cooked totally fresh in school kitchens and most of our ingredients are low in salt and fat, or reduced sugar." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

Next >>>