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British families benefit from national childhood obesity programme

September 25, 2007

Today Sainsbury's, the MEND Programme and the Youth Sport Trust announce results of the first phases of a 3-year partnership aimed at combating childhood obesity on a national scale.

Impressive results for the participating children show an overall reduction of waist size, an increase in exercise each week and a lot less time spent watching TV and in front of the computer.

Developed over six years since 2001 at the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital, the MEND - Mind, Exercise, Nutrition...Do it! scheme is a unique, fun, practical and highly effective programme that tackles childhood obesity by involving the entire family in healthy eating and an active lifestyle programme.

The results of the first phases of the programme show, on average:

• Waist circumference reduced by over 2cms
• Physical activity up to over 11.5 hours a week
• Sedentary activity down by 5.5 hours per week
• Body Mass Index (BMI) down by 0.8
• Overall there were significant improvements to participants health and wellbeing

Obesity is currently one of the world's largest health and social problems, and the global figure of overweight or obese school-age children is now estimated at one in ten, or 155 million.* The MEND Programme is the first initiative of its kind to offer a replicable, scalable solution which can be rolled out on a international basis. 

The Sainsbury's partnership has already demonstrated, within 10 months, that the programme can be successfully delivered by non-healthcare experts - Sainsbury's Community Food and Health Advisors. This has enormous implications for the cost of delivery of obesity prevention and treatment. It means that the MEND Programme can be successfully applied in a community setting, helping to meet the Government's Public Service Agreement target of halving the year on year rise in childhood obesity in children under the age of 11 by 2010.  

As part of Sainsbury's three-year commitment, Sainsbury's Community Food and Health Advisors are briefed and trained by MEND and responsible for the delivery of MEND Programmes across the UK.  The Youth Sport Trust matches Community Food and Health Advisors with local Sports Colleges to deliver the physical activity part of the programme, which includes activities such as dance, martial fitness, circus moves and ultimate frisbee.

Over the next two and a half years, the national partnership with Sainsbury's and the Youth Sport Trust will see up to 450 MEND programmes targeting 5,000 families rolled out across the country.

Harry MacMillan, MEND Partnership Director comments:

"These results are very impressive and we are seeing a big difference in the children both in terms of physical benefits and emotionally.  We are delighted with Sainsbury's support in tackling the national problem posed by childhood obesity.  Their commitment is by far the largest contribution from the private sector to date and is helping us make strides towards defusing this public health timebomb."

Importantly, the MEND Programme helps families and overweight children to build a foundation for healthy living - for life. The results from a recent randomised controlled trial show a sustained effect 12 months after the end of the programme, proving that encouraging healthy attitudes and behaviours related to eating and activity really does make a difference.

Robert Crumbie, Active Kids Manager from Sainsbury's comments:

"We are thrilled that our partnership with MEND continues to result in such encouraging and life changing results.  Sainsbury's is exceptionally pleased to be supporting the programme."

Steve Grainger, Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust said:

"We are delighted to be working with Sainsbury's and the MEND programme as part of our wider work to increase the physical activity levels of young people. We are working hard to develop awareness of the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle in preventing problems such as childhood obesity, and the partnership with MEND and Sainsbury's is an important element of that work."

Enquiries:

Notes to editors:

*International Obesity Task Force

**86% mean attendance on the research trial

Case studies:

Please note that there are MEND families and Sainsbury's Food Advisors available for comment as media case studies. Please contact either Caroline Swain at caroline.swain@mendprogramme.org or call 020 7231 7225

About the Mend Programme

MEND Programme details are available on the programme's website: www.mendprogramme.org.

Leading experts have developed the MEND Programme over six years. Paul Sacher (BSc Med Hons RD), is an honorary specialist dietitian at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH), a Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) and a trustee of the National Obesity Forum.  Dr. Paul Chadwick (BSc MA DClin Psy), a clinical psychologist at the Health Behaviour Unit at University College London, is a recognised expert in the field of childhood obesity. 

MEND has been developed and researched in the form of Feasibility study, Large Pilot study and Large Randomised Controlled Trial at the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

For more information, please contact Caroline Swain at caroline.swain@mendprogramme.org or call 0870 609 1405, or Sarah Leaman/Jessica Armstrong at Sainsbury's on 020 7695 7295/56213

About Youth Sport Trust

The Youth Sport Trust is a registered charity established in 1994 to build a brighter future for young people through sport. Its mission is to support the education and development of all young people through PE and Sport.

The exercise element of the MEND programme delivered by the Youth Sport Trust is an extension of the existing TOP Activity programme, and consists of physical activity sessions incorporating a range of alternative activities, which are designed to appeal to young people who may not be motivated to participate in more traditional activities and are delivered in a fun and non sport-specific way.

Specialist Sports Colleges are secondary schools who use PE and sport to enhance young people's opportunities to participate in a wide range of sports as well as raising the standards of teaching and learning of PE and school sport.

TOP Activity is supported by Sainsbury's Active Kids, and forms the latest addition to the Youth Sport Trust's TOP Programmes, which offer progressive pathways of PE and sporting opportunities to improve and develop young people's sporting skills.

For more information, please visit: http://www.youthsporttrust.org/ or call the press office on 020 7278 7208.

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