Children's attitudes to food and their physical conditions are improving since the roll-out of the Fruit in Schools programme, teachers say.
Fifty-seven low-decile schools in the Auckland region are involved, with almost 270 schools nationwide.
The programme is part of the Government's $76 million Healthy Eating Healthy Action (HEHA) strategy, to reduce New Zealand's growing obesity problem.
All pupils at 268 low-decile schools across New Zealand are receiving a piece of fruit each day. Children are also educated about the importance of healthy eating and exercise.
Minister of Health Pete Hodgson said early evaluations of the programme show student's attitudes toward healthy food and physical activity are becoming more positive.
"No one strategy will reverse the rising epidemic of obesity and inactivity amongst us, and no one agency will have all the answers, but programmes like this (provide a) vital part of what success will look like," Mr Hodgson said.
The Ministry of Health's deputy director general, Don Matheson, said a review of Fruit in Schools is due in April, but initial reports show the programme is having considerable positive results.
Dr Matheson said addressing the overweight and obesity issues of New Zealanders would require a profound societal change.
"No other western country has cracked it yet, but the HEHA programme is a positive step in the right direction," Dr Matheson said. "It's also important that we carefully evaluate and learn both from our own and global programmes about what works and what doesn't, so that we can keep heading in the right direction." Tamaki Primary School, in Panmure, introduced the programme one year ago. They now have units on healthy foods, fitness programmes and a strict ban on fizzy drinks. The school's coordinator for the programme, Christine Powell, said 99 percent of their children were Maori and Pacific Islanders. "We have a lot of bigger children but they are keen to join in. The children have more confidence now."
She has noticed big changes in the children's attitudes in the last year.
"We have less children who are obese, certainly." The school was planning a survey for teachers, children and the community to gather feedback about the programme. "They (the children) have got a different attitude towards food and health. We have found it very successful." She said, although the situation had changed a lot, it took a whole year.
"Actually the children are learning the names of fruit they have never eaten before," Mrs Powell said. Point England Primary School associate principal Delwyn Jarman said since the programme started children were bringing better food to school. "But there some children who still don't bring their lunches," she said.
She said often it was simply a case of the children leaving their lunches on the kitchen bench, but sometimes parents could not afford to provide their children with food.
Mrs Jarman said the programme added to things the school had been instilling in the children for years.
Saint Pius X School in Glen Innes introduced the programme in term four last year.
Principal Gina Bernade said the majority of children at the school eat wholesome foods and some even look forward to eating their fruit.
"We have comments now, 'What are we having today?"
But some children arrive at school without breakfast, so the fruit was helping them make it through to lunchtime, she said.
"We have some children who bring wonderful healthy food. Then we get some who just bring a packet of biscuits."
Mrs Bernade said the children have more energy now, particularly the classes who have their fruit in the afternoon.
She said she was looking forward to see if fewer children became sick in winter.
"Our schools are Pacifica schools so our children are generally bigger," she said.
Dietician and senior lecturer at AUT sports and recreation, Caryn Zinn, said in a press release that there is no one cause for childhood obesity.
"It is vital to educate children from very early on about healthy eating."
"The obesity epidemic needs to be tackled on a community level and children need to be educated so they can make informed decisions about what to eat and what not to eat," -Dietician and senior lecturer at AUT sports and recreation, Caryn Zinn.
In October 2006 the Fruit in Schools programme was extended to a further 154 primary schools. This more than doubled the programme's size to 268 primary schools and 57,000 pupils.
Fact Box
The 2002 National Children's Nutrition Survey found nearly one in three New Zealand children are overweight or obese.
Cardiovascular diseases cause about 40 percent of all deaths in New Zealand. Maori and Pacific Islanders are most at risk, according to the National Heart Foundation.
About 110,000 New Zealanders have type 2 diabetes. This number is rising rapidly with increasing rates of obesity in all age groups.
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