CHILDREN living in rural areas are more likely to choose a healthy lunch than city youngsters, according to a new study.
The Scottish Consumer Council (SCC) discovered that, while teenagers from urban areas opted for chips, pizza and fizzy drinks, country children chose paninis, filled rolls and water.
Experts said that, although the findings showed progress in tack
ling Scotland's obesity crisis, they also demonstrated the need to remove unhealthy options from school menus.
A report published last year, based on figures from the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development, showed Scotland was the second-fattest nation in the world, behind only the United States.
And the SCC used its new findings to urge the Scottish Government to extend its healthy eating initiative beyond the school gates.
It said local shopkeepers should be recruited to help improve young people's diets by ditching their fatty and sugary options.
Douglas Sinclair, the SCC chairman, said its "Out to Lunch" report suggested the obesity time bomb has still not been defused for many young Scots.
He stressed that education in healthy eating was crucial, but said it was too much to expect schools to tackle the issue on their own.
"We need leadership to bring schools, policymakers and retailers together to develop a strategy that goes beyond the school gates," he said.
"Instead of simply trying to offer the opposite of what's available in the school canteen, surely this is an opportunity for local retailers to offer healthy 'on the go' options at affordable prices for young people who choose to eat away from school."
The SCC commissioned a survey of pupils in third and fourth year at secondary schools in three different types of setting to examine why they preferred lunch outside school and what they bought to eat.
Junk food high in fat and sugar was still among the top choices for children, even where low-fat options were favoured.
However, the young people surveyed said their main reason for leaving school at lunchtime was social rather than to seek junk food.
Carina Norris, a nutritionist who is writing a PhD on pupils' lunch choices, said children were keen to get out of school at lunchtime.
"The main reason for children going outside the playground is simply to get away from school," she said. "It is a break from the environment and to hang out with their friends.
"If local stores offered more healthy meal deals than a jumbo sausage roll, fudge donut and fizzy drink – which can add up to over 1,000 calories – children may well choose them."
Scottish Government figures show 42.9 per cent of secondary school students have been eating in school this year, down from 44.9 per cent in 2007.
Mr Sinclair, of the SCC, said: "These young people are consumers who are making their own decisions. They will only stay in school if what's on offer there in terms of both the food and the lunchtime environment is better than what's on offer outside."
The SCC research was carried out in Stirling, a town in North Lanarkshire and the Highlands.
BACKGROUNDA REPORT from the Scottish Public Health Observatory last year warned that obesity among adults had increased by 46 per cent since 1995.
One in five Primary 7 children was estimated to be obese in 2004-5, and the report's authors estimated that the problem was costing Scotland £171 million a year.
The main causes of obesity were cited as the sedentary lifestyle of Scots and a preference for fatty, high-calorie foods.
The full article contains 603 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
