Nutritionist to tackle unruly classrooms
- From: A.Melon <juicy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 04:13:09 -0700 (PDT)
By Karen Hall and Richard Garner
01 May 2005
http://education.independent.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=634676
A controversial nutritionist with a track record of "curing" disruptive pupils
has been enlisted in the Government's fight against growing indiscipline in the
classroom.
Patrick Holford has been asked by Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for
Education, to advise on whether poor-quality food - including cut-price school
lunches - could be responsible for the decline in behaviour which is seen as
the main problem facing the education system.
Delegates to the National Association of Head Teachers' conference in Telford,
Shropshire, yesterday complained that schools must deal with ever-increasing
numbers of uncontrollable and occasionally violent teenagers.
Some heads demanded that parents be sent to weekly classes that will help them
to teach their children the difference between right and wrong. In the past
three months parents were also responsible for more than 50 cases of assault or
abuse against teachers.
Last week, TV viewers watched Mr Holford transform the behaviour of three
disruptive 14-year-olds, who had been thrown out of school because of
behavioural problems. He achieved the transformation in only a month by cutting
out sugar and stimulants such as caffeine, and adding vitamin supplements.
Children's eating habits are already the focus of ministers' attention, with
the Chief Medical Officer having warned that the epidemic of childhood obesity
constitutes a "time bomb" for the health service.
Last month the Prime Minister promised an extra £280m to improve school dinners
after the outcry created by Jamie Oliver's campaign against junk food and his
Channel 4 programme Jamie's School Dinners. It emerged that the average primary
school lunch costs 45p a child.
The Government has set up a task force to prepare advice on minimum nutrition
standards for school meals. But, as revealed in The Independent on Sunday, the
Department for Education and Skills does not employ a nutritionist.
Now the department has written to Mr Holford, a private consultant, asking for
his help.
Mr Holford believes that mental health disorders are related to a person's
biochemical requirements. Instead of drugs, he prescribes dietary changes plus
vitamin and mineral supplements. "The sad truth is that scientists have been
carrying out this research for over a decade," he said.
"But it takes a television programme to bring it to everyone's attention. Poor
nutrition is definitely a contributory factor towards crime and mental health
problems in later years."
He wants policymakers to raise the importance of nutrition. "If it doesn't
happen governments will be bankrupt," he says.
"They will be crippled by the rising costs of Alzheimer's, obesity and soaring
crime rates, which will force them to look at the true contributory causes."
Mr Holford is already helping the Government's Food Standards Agency draw up
plans to publish health warnings on all foods that have a sugar content of more
than 10 per cent.He also hopes that the Government will introduce a tax on
sugar.
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