Register for Healthy Eating Week

Schools who register for Healthy Eating week will received a set of four posters. In addition nursery, primary and special needs schools will receive stickers. 

To register visit, www.healthyeatingweek.org.uk

Regular emails with links to old and new resources, information about Healthy Eating Week eSeminars, live Cook-a-long sessions, certificates of participation and much more have been sent to help teachers with their planning.

 

Registration for Healthy Eating Week closes on 31 May 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consultation on reform of the National Curriculum in England

On the 7 February 2013, the Department for Education released The National Curriculum in England Framework Document for Consultation. Details about the review can be found here: http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/departmentalinformation/consultations/a00221262/reform-national-curriculum 

The British Nutrition Foundation created a response, which was submitted on the 8 March 2013. The response can be found here: http://www.nutrition.org.uk/nutritioninthenews/responses/curriculumconsultation

The deadline for sending in your comments and feedback to the government is Tuesday 16 April 2013. Remember to have your say before it is too late.

Top science resources

Food – a fact of life has a wide variety of free resources for both primary and secondary science education. We have collated our top five primary and secondary resources for you.

Primary Science

Here's our top 5 resources:

1. Healthy eating - lesson ideas, worksheets, PowerPoint presentations and interactive games. Learn about healthy eating through our progressive range of teaching materials, including interactive games. Click here for ages 5-8 years or click here for ages 8-11 years.

2. Where food comes from - lesson ideas, worksheets, recipes and interactive games. Find out about food and farming through six exciting stories. Resources include interactive Whiteboard (IWB) activities, videos and worksheets. Click here for ages 5-8 years or click here for ages 8-11 years.

3. Plants - Explore the different parts of plants we eat. Resources include colourful food cards, a PowerPoint presentation and IWB activities. Click here to view a range of videos.

4. Materials - Investigate how food changes when it is prepared and cooked by trying our delicious recipes, e.g. bread. Click here to see our recipes.

5. Micro-organisms - Discover all about microorganisms, as well as safe and hygienic food preparation practices.

Click here for ages 5-8 years or click here for ages 8-11 years. Click here for a great video about micro-organisms.

Secondary Science

Here's our top 5 resources:

1. Nutrition, diet and health - Explore aspects of nutrition and the importance of diet and health through differentiated resources.

Click here for information, PowerPoint presentations, tutorials and worksheets.

2. Digestion and absorption - Learn about the digestion process through differentiated PowerPoint presentations and note sheets.  Click here for worksheets and presentations, click here for a video introducing digestion, or click here for a video providing more in-depth information.

3. Food experiments - Investigate the properties of food using Experiment sheets. Each Sheet has an introduction clear instructions and safety symbols to guide the user. Click here for 12 food experiment sheets.

4. mywellbeing - Challenge young people to find out more about their diet and physical activity by using this online tool.  Click here to launch mywellbeing.

5. Videos and eSeminars - Explore a vast range of food and nutrition topics via the video podcast series and online eSeminars, all delivered by a range of experts.  Click here for our list of free video podcasts or click here for our eSeminar programme and recordings.

4. mywellbeing - Challenge young people to find out more about their diet and physical activity by using this online tool. Click here to launch mywellbeing.

5. Videos and eSeminars –Explore a vast range of food and nutrition topics via the video podcast series and online eSeminars, all delivered by a range of experts.  Click here for our list of free video podcasts or click here for our eSeminar programme and recordings.

Nutrition and pregnancy: free virtual issue of the Nutrition Bulletin

The British Nutrition Foundation and the publishers Wiley-Blackwell have teamed up with the journal Maternal and Child Nutrition to produce a freely available, joint virtual issue of Nutrition Bulletin with the aim to provide up-to-date and consistent advice on nutrition and pregnancy.

This contains a detailed Briefing Paper on the topic of nutrition and pregnancy, which was published in 2006 and remains one of BNF’s most popular publications. However, since its publication, a number of changes have been made to dietary recommendations for pregnant women such as advice on alcohol, caffeine and peanut consumption during pregnancy and these are described in detail in the other papers that make up this virtual issue. 


These include:
·The developmental origins of adult disease.
·Diet during pregnancy can lead to obesity in offspring.
·Critical issues in setting micronutrient recommendations for pregnant women: an insight. 
·Nutrition in pregnancy
·Alcohol in pregnancy: is there a safe amount?
·New guidelines on caffeine in pregnancy
·Government advice revised – early life exposure to peanut no longer a risk factor for peanut allergy.
·Weight management before, during and after pregnancy – what are the ‘rules’?
·Assessment of weight changes during and after pregnancy practical approaches.
·Does birth spacing affect maternal or child nutritional status? A systematic review.
·Nutritional status in pregnant adolescents: a systematic review of biochemical markers.


This information would be useful information for teacher CPD or A-level and Advanced Higher students who are conducting research in this area.


To download the Briefing Paper or any of the other articles listed, go to: http://www.nutrition.org.uk/publications/bulletin/nutritionandpregnancy

Out of Home Calorie Labelling

Did you know?

•  1 in 6 meals is eaten outside of the home and is estimated to contribute 20% and 25% of energy intake for adult women and men respectively.

•  The latest Health Survey for England (HSE) data shows us that nearly 1 in 4 adults (age 16 and over) are obese.

•  Some foods and drinks provide more energy than people think.

A wide range of organisations have signed up to the commitment of providing calorie information for food and non alcoholic drink for customers in out of home settings from 1 September 2011. Out of Home Calorie (OOH) Labelling is intended to inform and empower people to make healthier choices, and to encourage OOH food businesses to make healthier options more available.

This is in accordance with the principles for calorie labeling agreed by the Responsibility Deal which supplements government action. Organisations involved in this include industry (retailers, manufacturers, hospitality), NGO’s (public health bodies, civil society groups) and policymakers.

The aim is to increase the impact of public health goals through greater use of business influence and ability to engage with consumers.

There are five different networks within the Responsibility Deal. These include:

1. Food
2. Alcohol           
3. Physical Activity
4. Health at Work
5. Behaviour Change

Specifically within the food network, the four key areas are:

• People - information to consumers
• Product - content of food
• Place - improving the availability of healthy food
• Promotions - promotion of healthier food choices

 

For more information about the OOH scheme download the PowerPoint presentation from our website here: http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/Sheet.aspx?siteId=19&sectionId=81&contentId=275

mywellbeing

A new online diet and physical activity tool for young people aged 11-16 years has just been launched by the Foundation. mywellbeing aims to provide a friendly and engaging way to capture food and drink intake, as well as the amount of physical activity undertaken over one or three days.

Food diary

Users can enter what they consumed for reakfast, lunch, evening meal, snacks and drinks. There are over 450 food and drink items available, reflecting characteristics of the British diet and those of minority ethnic groups. Results are generated to provide guidance on the balance of the diet by comparing it with the government’s healthy eating models:

• The eatwell plate; 
• Tips for healthy eating.

The tool will not provide detailed dietary analysis, but rather feedback with general suggestions.

Activity diary

Levels of physical activity can also be entered online. A sensitive message is displayed prior to users entering data to reduce the chance of stigma arising for those people who have been less physically active. 

This data is used in reference to new government recommendations (Department of Health 2011), that young people should:

• engage in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes and up to several hours every day;
• incorporate vigorous intensity activities, including those that strengthen muscle and bone, at least three days a week;
• minimise the amount of time spent being sedentary (sitting) for a long period of time.

At the end of the activity there is also an opportunity for the user to make a pledge to improve or reinforce certain aspects of their diet and/or physical activity.

A teachers’ guide and food and activities which supplement the tool are also available to download.

To try the new online tool click here.

Nutrition, health and schoolchildren: an update

A new briefing paper recently published in the Nutrition Bulletin by the British Nutrition Foundation has carried out a detailed and comprehensive review of various aspects of the nutrition, lifestyle and health of schoolchildren from ages 5-to-18 years. The paper emphasises healthy eating and being physically active as particularly important for children and adolescents. 


The paper also comments on nutritional requirements and dietary intakes of children and adolescents in different age groups. These are investigated with an emphasis on nutrients of particular concern such as vitamin D and iron.


Concern is raised about the consequences of overweight and obesity being observed in children. Risk factors for related metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as well as oral and bone health, psychological problems and allergies are also discussed by the paper.


Food provided in schools has been identified as one way to improve the dietary habits of schoolchildren. Standards for food and drinks provided in schools are in place across all UK countries, with major improvements being achieved in many places. However, the factors affecting a child’s food choice are complex and encompass a range of influences such as advertising peer pressure; these are reviewed together with food provision in schools.


The position of food in the UK school curriculum and a range of health promotion initiatives directed towards improving children’s eating habits and lifestyles were also explored.


A summary of the Briefing Paper can be viewed for free here.
Online access to the article for approximately £27.00 can be obtained here.

Weichselbaum E and Buttriss J (2011) Nutrition, health and schoolchildren Nutrition Bulletin 36:295-355