Research on workshops that encourage healthy eating in 0 – 3-year-olds
The challenge: One in five children in England are overweight or obese at school entry.
What we’re doing about it
Healthy Eating and Nutrition in the Really Young (HENRY) is an 8-week programme, delivered by Better Start Bradford. HENRY aims to help families to make healthier lifestyle choices. Each session focuses on a different topic about healthy eating and living an active lifestyle.
Caregivers who live in the Bradford area, and who look after a 0-to-5-year old can take part in HENRY. The intervention is for families who would like to make lifestyle changes, to improve their healthy eating and physical activity.
Findings
We’ve conducted research that looks at how HENRY can be evaluated and how this works in practice.
In Bradford 362 families have completed HENRY over the past 3 years, and 100% of these families have rated the programme as ‘good’ or ‘great’. HENRY has the following health benefits:
- Larger amounts of fruit and vegetables eaten.
- Healthier eating behaviours e.g., eating together during meals, not snacking between meals, and not eating in front of the TV.
- Eating less high fat/sugar food.
Future Plans
We would like to see if the programme can lessen the number of children with overweight or obesity at 2 years of age and at 4-5 years of age.
Project summary written by Leanne Jackson
the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub 