 |  | Food & Nutrition The Food and Nutrition element of East End Health's work is carried out in partnership with the Soil Association and is funded by both the Northern Rock Foundation and Newcastle Working Neighbourhoods Fund. Eating patterns established in childhood tend to be carried over into adult life; children who are overweight tend to become overweight adults. Being overweight increases the risk of developing illnesses such as heart attack, Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure (World Health Organisation, 2007), as well as having a negative effect in terms of self-esteem, self-image and overall quality of life. In the Newcastle area, a third of children are either overweight or obese and in ten East End schools, this rises to 41% of children.The number of clinically obese children in the North East, under the age of 11, is now higher than anywhere else in the country. | Due to the high number of children registered for free school meals there is the potential to address this issue. Currently, however, the quality of school meals and the information children receive about the importance of a healthy diet is, in many cases, failing to address this issue. The Food and Nutrition project aims to tackle health inequalities by working with disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the East End of Newcastle. | |
| | The projects currently underway include: | Healthy Fruit Tuck Shops |  | Healthy Fruit Tuck Shops have recently been set up in 10 primary schools in the East End of Newcastle. Everyday these offer a free piece of fruit to Key Stage 2 children. This scheme forms part of the Lean East Project and will build on the existing fruit tuck shops developed by the scheme. | | The project also acts as an aid to other organisations which work with young people, to set up healthy tuck shops and to run healthy food cooking sessions.
By introducing the tuck shops, East End Health hopes to increase children's intake of fruit; with the long term benefit of reducing the risk of serious illness in later life, and also for the prevention of obesity during childhood. Please click on the link to access the report. 
|  | Fruit and Vegetable Bag Schemes are currently being set up in a number of local primary schools. The project offers local parents the opportunity to purchase low cost, but high quality fruit and vegetables directly from their child's school on a weekly basis. The project has been developed in partnership with local food co-operative, Food Chain North East and aims to help local parents to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables that their children consume at home. | Any schools interested in joining the scheme should contact the charity. To find out more information about the scheme, please click on the links below: | |
| Organic Milk Bar Scheme |  | Organic milk is naturally higher in certain nutrients than non-organic milk. Research at the University of Aberdeen (2004) demonstrated that organic milk had up to 71% more Omega 3 than non-organic milk and also that the organic milk had a better ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6.
East End Health has recently helped to set up Organic Milk Bars in 10 schools across the East End of Newcastle. | | The project works in partnership with Acorn Dairy, based in Darlington, to provide a free 250ml of fresh organic milk, everyday, to Key Stage 1 and 2 children, for a whole year. This scheme also forms part of the Lean East Project by establishing good eating habits at a young age and helping to prevent obesity levels from rising. Please see the links below to see recent media coverage of the scheme. Smoothie Bar ProjectClick here to find out more... | |
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| | | <>Food for Life |  | East End Health works in partnership with the Soil Association to deliver the Food for Life Project. This project acts to bring together key local and regional partners to improve disadvantaged children's diets by enabling improvements in school food and helping children and parents to have an understanding of, and access to, good quality, healthy food. | | The aim is to have a long term beneficial effect on school meals throughout the area. The current project aims to- Get better food into schools
- Increase the uptake of school meals in disadvantaged areas
- To develop a 'whole school approach' to nutrition thereby including children, parents, teachers and catering staff in the scheme.
The project also works in association with Newcastle University's Food and Human Nutrition and Students into Schools departments to support an education programme on nutrition and farming. Students into SchoolsClick here to find out more... | |
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| Educational Firm Visits |  | East End Health also works in association with David Thompson, of Broxfield Farm near Alnwick, to organise trips for local school children to visit this organic farm. The farm has onsite classroom facilities and provides the chance to introduce children to the practicalities of farming both livestock and crops on an organic farm. Situated close to the Northumberland Coastline the farm offers views of the local countryside and wildlife. Please see the link below for recent media coverage of the project: |
 Please click on the titles below to view the factsheet.
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