Steve Gerrard joins call for school cookery lessons to fight obesity | Society | The Observer

Steve Gerrard joins call for school cookery lessons to fight obesity | Society | The Observer

Footballer and nutrition experts warn David Cameron that cuts in food education will be a 'disaster' for Britain's youngsters

Experts have called for a minimum 24 hours of compulsory education about food and cooking in the school year for key stages one to three. Photograph: Paul Doyle/Alamy

England football international Steven Gerrard teams is teaming up with medical experts and academics to demand that cooking and food education should remain compulsory for all children aged five to 14 to help fight obesity.
A letter to David Cameron signed by the Liverpool captain and a group that includes Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, says the Olympics have already been "tainted" by the UK's shameful obesity statistics.
They make clear it would be a disaster for the health of young Britons if a review of the school curriculum now under way allowed cooking and food education to be downgraded. Gerard's intervention places further pressure on education secretary Michael Gove and health secretary Andrew Lansley, who have been criticised for failing to do enough to tackle obesity and encourage good diet and exercise.