John
06-30-2010, 07:06 PM
Lansley said a different way had to be found to persuade people to change their behaviour and lifestyle, signalling a change of tack on public health by the new Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition.
He criticised the ousted Labour administration's policy for tackling climbing childhood obesity by trying to raise the standard of school food in England, inspired by a 2005 television series starring celebrity chef Oliver.
"Jamie Oliver, quite rightly, was talking about trying to improve the diet of children in schools and improving school meals. What was the net effect? Actually the number of children eating school meals in many of these places didn't go up, it went down," Lansley told doctors in Brighton, southeast England.
"There is a risk if we constantly are lecturing people and trying to tell them what to do, we will actually find that we might undermine and be counterproductive in the results that we achieve.
Lansley, addressing the annual conference of the British Medical Association, said: "We have to understand that this is a behaviour-change programme we're engaged in and if behaviour doesn't change, our likelihood is that we will fail."
OLIVER HITS BACK
Oliver said Lansley had got his facts wrong, was being insulting and that the real problem was a lack of funds.
The Labour government, ousted in May, legislated to improve the nutritional content of school food after Oliver shocked the public with his television series "Jamie's School Dinners."
The programme highlighted the poor state of existing school food -- including the unappetising processed meat "Turkey Twizzlers" -- and campaigned for improvements in the content and cooking of meals for pupils.
"To say school dinners hasn't worked is not just inaccurate but is also an insult to the hard work of hundreds of thousands of dinner ladies, teachers, head-teachers and parent helpers who strive to feed schoolkids a nutritious, hot meal for 190 days of the year," said Oliver.
Oliver denied he had been lecturing in his programme and said there had been a shortage of money for training school catering staff.
The School Food Trust, a government agency tasked with improving children's meals, said the number of pupils eating school lunches had risen in the past two years after decades of decline following the introduction of nutritional standards.
It said there had been a dip in the take-up of school meals following Oliver's television series, but said this was probably because of the publicity the celebrity chef gave to the poor quality of food on offer at the time.
One in six of children in England were classed as obese in 2008, while only 20 percent were eating the recommended five pieces of fruit and vegetables a day.
He criticised the ousted Labour administration's policy for tackling climbing childhood obesity by trying to raise the standard of school food in England, inspired by a 2005 television series starring celebrity chef Oliver.
"Jamie Oliver, quite rightly, was talking about trying to improve the diet of children in schools and improving school meals. What was the net effect? Actually the number of children eating school meals in many of these places didn't go up, it went down," Lansley told doctors in Brighton, southeast England.
"There is a risk if we constantly are lecturing people and trying to tell them what to do, we will actually find that we might undermine and be counterproductive in the results that we achieve.
Lansley, addressing the annual conference of the British Medical Association, said: "We have to understand that this is a behaviour-change programme we're engaged in and if behaviour doesn't change, our likelihood is that we will fail."
OLIVER HITS BACK
Oliver said Lansley had got his facts wrong, was being insulting and that the real problem was a lack of funds.
The Labour government, ousted in May, legislated to improve the nutritional content of school food after Oliver shocked the public with his television series "Jamie's School Dinners."
The programme highlighted the poor state of existing school food -- including the unappetising processed meat "Turkey Twizzlers" -- and campaigned for improvements in the content and cooking of meals for pupils.
"To say school dinners hasn't worked is not just inaccurate but is also an insult to the hard work of hundreds of thousands of dinner ladies, teachers, head-teachers and parent helpers who strive to feed schoolkids a nutritious, hot meal for 190 days of the year," said Oliver.
Oliver denied he had been lecturing in his programme and said there had been a shortage of money for training school catering staff.
The School Food Trust, a government agency tasked with improving children's meals, said the number of pupils eating school lunches had risen in the past two years after decades of decline following the introduction of nutritional standards.
It said there had been a dip in the take-up of school meals following Oliver's television series, but said this was probably because of the publicity the celebrity chef gave to the poor quality of food on offer at the time.
One in six of children in England were classed as obese in 2008, while only 20 percent were eating the recommended five pieces of fruit and vegetables a day.