GPs slam ministers over obese children

Doctors today declared war on Britain's childhood obesity epidemic and attacked the Government's record on the issue.

In a major report, the British Medical Association called for junk food and soft drinks to be banned from all schools and said ministers must work urgently to educate parents about healthy living and stop the sale of school playing fields.

It came as a government-funded report recommended new guidelines on limiting the amount of fat, sugar and salt in school meals.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of the BMA science and ethics committee-said: "It is madness that at a time when children are being told to eat less and do more exercise, they go into school and are sold fizzy drinks and doughnuts and do less than two hours' exercise a week."

There are about a million obese under-16s in Britain. Soaring levels of obesity have caused an increase in childhood type 2 diabetes and will lead to more future cases of heart disease, osteoarthritis and some cancers, says the report. It calls for strict school meal guidelines and a ban on junk food advertising and sponsorship. "Children are being bombarded with mixed messages," claimed Dr Nathanson.

Today's government-funded report on school meals says its recommendations must be implemented to end the "crisis" of children's bad diets.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has told the panel of experts she set up after Jamie Oliver's school meals campaign to "strongly consider" the report's findings. The panel will set out nutrition standards that will be compulsory by autumn next year.