Pupils should take part in keep-fit exercises to fight obesity between lessons, a university lecturer said today.
Dr Gustav Milne believes 10-minute bursts of “high-intensity” activity such as bending and stretching to touch toes should be in the national curriculum.
He said the UK had a “world war” on its hands in fighting obesity. Almost 38 per cent of London children aged 10-11 are overweight or obese, and nearly 7,000 UK children and young adults have type 2 diabetes, linked to obesity.
Dr Milne, of UCL’s Institute of Archaeology, has produced a 60-page blueprint for tackling obesity. He will give a public lecture at UCL tomorrow at 1pm.
He wants an hour of activity a day to recreate a “hunter-gatherer” lifestyle and called for schools to appoint a “head of health” to record activity levels, body mass index and healthiness of meals.
“We need to create a ‘hunter-gatherer’ approach,” he said. “Your body needs to move about every day. You will not be obese and you will not contract type 2 diabetes and a range of cancers.
“The World Health Organisation suggests one hour of activity a day in schools. The national curriculum says two hours a week … Children who don’t like sport are excluded from high-intensity activity.”
