Teenagers favour caffeine to help them with exam revision

The Telegraph reports that "A study by the School Food Trust found that students revising for exams skip meals, do less exercise and indulge in more junk food."

I'm sure students are given lots of good advice by their teachers about how best to revise and how to tackle exam questions. I wonder whether the advice includes the importance of healthy eating.

If I were advising them these days, I'd suggest cutting down on salt and salty food, eating plenty of fruit - and definitely not skipping meals. Following this advice would certainly help them to concentrate better and to feel less tired.

One in seven children - up to 1.7million - never eat any fruit, a report has warned.

One in seven children never eat fruit, says School Food Trust
Article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"In total, 14 per cent of youngsters do not even touch an apple, orange or a banana ever despite experts recommending that we eat five portions of fruit or veg a day.

Many children wrongly think that a healthy diet involves starving themselves, the government-backed report by the School Food Trust claimed.

"Although the term healthy eating is familiar to children, it is neither well understood nor applied in practice," it said."

"Childhood obesity is growing with one in three children regarded as overweight or obese, according to the report. By 2050, two in three children and 90 per cent of adults could be fat, risking heart disease and diabetes."

Fruit (and vegetables) are rich in potassium, and potassium helps to prevent/reduce obesity in children because it displaces sodium from the body. When children eat salt and salty food their bodies get too much sodium and this causes fluid retention/weight gain, leading to obesity.

So food low in added salt is best for children's health and happiness (fat children are often bullied and humiliated) and plenty of fruit and (unsalted) vegetables makes their food intake even healthier. - Children should NEVER be expected to diet to lose weight. Dieting is harmful and unnecessary. They just need to avoid salt and salty food.

See Sodium in foods

You can read about the causes of obesity on my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk (the site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information) and in particular about child obesity on this page - http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

If you are overweight/obese and want to lose weight, you can do it easily and safely. - Read these pages to see how:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See also FAT RETENTION

Vulnerable groups

The Government-funded School Food Trust is suggesting that schools be told to stop serving hot tea to under-16s on health and safety grounds!

Schools face ban on serving tea to under-16s

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Schools could be told to stop serving hot tea to under-16s on health and safety grounds.

The Government-funded School Food Trust said restrictions may be added to guidelines on drinks approved for consumption in state schools.

In a consultation document, it said hot coffee and tea had "minimal" nutritional benefits and posed potential safety risks.

Draft guidelines - part of a drive to improve the quality of food served in schools - said any drinks served in schools in addition to water "should offer clear nutritional benefit"."

This seems foolish and unnecessary to me. - Tea and coffee are probably much healthier drinks than children often have - certainly far healthier than coke and diet drinks... - I bet all of the adults suggesting these restrictions drink tea and coffee themselves...

And the milk in tea and coffee is very good for children, providing them with dairy calcium.