Tag: junk food

Edinburgh pupils premiere new ‘Junk Food’ dance

P6 pupils from the Royal Mile and Abbeyhill Primary Schools and student dancers from Moray House School of Education and Sport came together yesterday to perform Junk Food, written and created for this year’s Pomegranates Festival.

Over the course of the spring term, pupils at both schools took part in several workshops to discuss themes such as why people dance, what dance looks like, and chose a topic of their choice to create a dance piece that was relevant to them.

The pupils chose to discuss ‘Junk Food’ and used this theme to create a short dance piece accompanied by new electronic music by Gourab Dey, with the help of students at the University. The pupils worked on themes like ‘hangry’ and what this looked like as a dance movement, and after several rehearsals they created today’s final dance piece.

Wendy Timmons, Co-Producer of Pomegranates Festival and Senior Lecturer in Dance at Moray House School of Education and Sport said: “Many children that we work with in schools experience dance as part of physical education, and therefore the aesthetic experience of being in a theatre and being on stage is completely new.

“What this project aimed to do was to create a dance piece using their ideas so they would feel more connected with the process. Today’s performance illustrates the quality of work that this process can create, and this came across in the piece.”

The Pomegranates Festival runs until tomorrow (Tuesday 30 April) and is Scotland’s annual festival of international traditional dance.

Initiated and curated by Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland it is presented and produced in partnership with Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Libraries, Dance Base and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. 

The Festival finishes with a finale performance on International Dance Day 29 April which includes a new piece of dance created by MC, hip-hop dancer and choreographer-in-residence Jonzi D and performed by 20 Edinburgh-based traditional dancers.

The piece will be accompanied by newly-commissioned poetry by Perth-based poet Jim Mackintosh who will also be launching his new book of poetry We are Migrant at the event, and poems by BBC broadcaster Ian McMillan. 

Plus, there will be a screening of a new film by contemporary visual artist and human rights activist Mare Tralla who has been artist-in-residence at this year’s festival.

There will also be a live streamed keynote lecture by Jonzi D on ‘Decolonising the Expressive Arts Curriculum’ tomorrow – Tuesday 30 April at 10am at Paterson’s Land, Moray House School of Education and Sport, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ.

Edinburgh obesity levels on the rise as city has 5th highest number of fast-food outlets in the world

– Three UK cities rank in the bottom ten globally for concentration of fast food outlets – 

– UK ranks as 11th worst country globally for adult obesity and the WORST in Europe –

Recent analysis by online home rental company Spotahome has revealed that Edinburgh ranks as the 3rd worst city in Europe for number of fast food outlets, and 5th worst in the world. Continue reading Edinburgh obesity levels on the rise as city has 5th highest number of fast-food outlets in the world

Not in front of the children: Minister urges ad ban

Ads for alcohol and fatty foods should be adult viewing only

test card

Alcohol and junk food advertising should be prohibited before the 9pm watershed in order to protect children, Public Health Minister Maureen Watt said yesterday.

Ms Watt has written to UK Government ministers arguing that the move would protect children from exposure to powerful marketing messages and branding. Control over broadcast advertising is currently reserved to Westminster.

Adverts for alcohol and high fat, salt and sugar foods are not permitted during children’s programming. But they are allowed during early evening shows that are watched by large numbers of young people.

Stronger restrictions are supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the British Medical Association (BMA) and Alcohol Focus Scotland.

The latest piece of research commissioned by the British Heart Foundation shows that many parents believe that broadcast advertising for high fat, salt and sugar foods remains a significant barrier which makes it more difficult for their children to adopt a healthy diet. According to their research that figure is highest in Scotland at 43 per cent. Extra restrictions on advertising for these types of food are also supported by Which?.

Maureen Watt, Minister for Public Health, said: “In recent years the rate of obesity has been relatively stable, but still unaccepbtably high, and there have been some reductions in alcohol-related harm. But we still, in general, have diets that are far too high in fat, sugar and salt, and levels of alcohol-related harm which are significantly higher than they were just a few decades ago.

“If we are to tackle the significant public health problems we face, we need bold solutions. We need a culture change in the way we think about alcohol and food high in fat, salt and sugar. There is a wealth of research which shows that children seeing these adverts while they are watching their favourite family programmes respond positively towards them and they affect their behaviour. That’s something that needs to be addressed.”

Dr Peter Bennie, Chairman of the BMA Scotland, said: “The regulation of alcohol and junk food advertising in this country is far too weak, largely because these industries have been allowed to regulate themselves. Despite the serious health harms associated with excessive alcohol consumption and obesity in the UK, these industries use marketing to promote consumption of their products.

“The cost of alcohol to our society is significant and inevitably, the NHS picks up the pieces. Obesity rates too are worryingly high, driven by the promotion and availability of unhealthy foods. Obesity brings with it increased risk of a wide range of serious life threatening and chronic diseases. While doctors have a role to play in supporting overweight patients, there is a limit to what they can do.

“The UK Government could take decisive action to change the culture of excess that the junk food and alcohol industry promotes, and tougher regulation of advertising would be a positive first step.”

Barbara O’Donnell, Deputy Chief Executive at Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: “Existing advertising codes fail to prevent under 18s from being exposed to alcohol advertising. Although current rules prohibit alcohol advertising around children’s programmes, alcohol adverts are allowed during early evening family viewing when the largest number of children watch television. As a result, 10 to 15 year olds in the UK see more alcohol adverts on television, per hour of television watched, than adults. Indeed, a survey just published by Alcohol Focus Scotland found that 10 and 11 year olds were more familiar with alcohol brands than leading brands of biscuits, crisps and ice cream.

“The bottom line is that we are failing to protect children and young people from alcohol harm. More effective controls are urgently needed to ensure alcohol marketing messages only reach adult audiences.”

Simon Gillespie, Chief Executive at the BHF, said: “Regulations for TV and online advertising in the UK are too weak, allowing companies to exploit loopholes in the system at the expense of our children’s health. Every day millions of children are being bombarded with sophisticated marketing techniques encouraging unhealthy eating habits.

“Evidence shows that junk food adverts can influence children’s food preferences and consumption hampering parents’ efforts to get their children to eat healthily. In the UK over 30 per cent of children are overweight or obese and dietary surveys show that children are eating too much salt, sugar and saturated fat.

“The Government must act now to ban junk food marketing before the 9pm watershed to help give children a stronger chance of preventing future heart disease.”