TeesCAKE

TeesCAKE is a three-year project, working in partnership with Middlesbrough Football Club and Middlesbrough Borough Council, starting in January 2009, and is sponsored by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). The project aims to encourage healthy weight and healthy eating in school children, and was piloted in a Teesside school in 2005/06.

There is an increasing prevalence of overweight and obese children across the UK - especially in areas of social deprivation. Halting the growing prevalence of childhood obesity is a public health priority and is even more urgent when a number of expert committees have concluded that obesity is a significant risk factor for certain types of cancers.

The project involves 9-10 year old children from four schools in the Tees Valley area. At the start and end of the project, participating children will have body measurements taken; food preference assessments carried out; as well as the food they eat and the activities they participate in surveyed.

Children from two of the schools get no additional help, but all participating children from the other two schools are being invited to take part in a number of extra activities. These extra activities include physical activity sessions which include football and dance and practical food preparation and tasting sessions at school.

The programme will be evaluated and a final report produced for WCRF on the project outcomes and the results of the evaluation. For more information, please contact Helen Moore, Claire O'Malley or Wayne Douthwaite. 

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