No fat kids for the French

Despite its reputation for buttery food and red wine, France could be leading the fight against fledgling fatties.

The Normandy town of Evreux has been running a child health scheme for three years, which has been adopted by 127 French towns and may be heading to the UK.

As in our own bulging Britain, France is facing an obesity timebomb, with childhood and adult obesity both rising.

The Evreux scheme is known as EPODE and focuses on teaching primary school children about food and nutrition. Sounds simple, but it appears to be working.

The children are taught the importance of balanced meals and a good breakfast.

Unlike some scare-tactics employed in the US, the French celebrate food and encourage children to savour it – just with an eye on moderation at the same time.

Sandrine Raffin, director of the EPODE programme, which is funded in part by companies such as Nestlé, told the BBC: “We concentrate on prevention because we know that a child who is overweight at age 12 has 80% chance to be obese all their life.”

“To gain a healthy lifestyle you need the whole of childhood to build good food habits and incorporate physical activity.”

The children in Evreux have been weighed and measured every year for three years and results suggest a small but noticeable reduction in the numbers of overweight children.

The British Government is due to unveil its own anti-obesity strategy in January 2008, and indicators suggest elements of the French scheme will feature.