Praise for campaign launched following figures showing nearly a quarter of five-year-olds are overweight

LifeLab is a joint project between the University of Southampton and the University Hospital Southampton, where it is based.

It is aimed at engaging teenage school students from across Hampshire in understanding the science behind healthy behaviours.

The project was highlighted during a parliamentary debate on the effect of junk food advertising on obesity in children.

It comes after figures released earlier this month revealed that 23.2 per cent of children in Hampshire and Southampton are overweight by reception, which is the same figure specifically for Southampton.

As they head into year six, the figure rises to 29.3 per cent in Hampshire, and 35 per cent in Southampton.

Speaking as part of the debate, the Minister for Public Health and Winchester MP Steve Brine said he had been impressed by the facility during a recent visit and that he would be interested in seeing how it could be used in public health policy more widely.

He said: “LifeLab is a brilliant organisation that empowers children through scientific enquiry to understand the impact on their bodies of their behaviour, through what they eat and drink.”

Mr Brine then referred to Early LifeLab, a new initiative aimed at primary school children.

“I would be interested to see how that might be built into the wider public policy,” he added.

Opened four years ago, LifeLab has worked with more than 7,500 students from schools across the South, giving resource packs for pupils to work through before visiting the purpose-built laboratory and education space at the University Hospital Southampton for a day.

There they take part in a series of hands-on experiments to explore why their lifestyle choices now can affect not only their health but that of any children they may have in the future.

Mr Brine’s speech followed his visit to LifeLab, which included a discussion on plans to extend Early LifeLab to all primary schools in Southampton.