IT'S a pioneering scheme that aims to tackle the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

With shocking statistics revealing one in five of Southampton's primary schoolchildren are obese, making the city's ten and 11-year-olds the fattest in Hampshire, there has never been a more important time to change the way youngsters think about their health and diet.

So city hospital bosses have thrown their backing behind LifeLab Southampton in a bid to empower children and future generations to make healthier lifestyle choices.

The University of Southampton has already won prestigious national awards for the innovative education scheme that brings schoolchildren into the hospital laboratories to discover how diet and lifestyle affects their health.

Since 2008 more than 1,000 students aged between five and 18 have experienced life in the lab and as a result of its promising start, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is joining forces with the university to build and equip a dedicated £1.3m Lifelab facility at Southampton General Hospital.

Its success could also see it rolled out across the country.

Opening in September the new lab will boast a custom designed laboratory with state-of-the art equipment for measuring how muscles respond to exercise, measuring the influence of nutrition on the chemical structure of our DNA and ultrasound machines to visualise the inner workings of the body.

Results of a study looking into the impact of Lifelab showed it created a wider appreciation among students that their current lifestyle could affect not only their long-term health but also that of their future children.

Additionally, students became significantly more interested in studying science beyond compulsory schooling, and in considering science and healthcare career options.

Mark Hanson, director of the Institute of Developmental Sciences and of Human Development and Health at the University of Southampton, said: “There is urgent need to promote healthy lifestyles in young people in order to prevent chronic diseases in them and in their children.

“Education can change attitudes, alter health-related behaviours and increase health literacy in young people.“LifeLab gives pupils an authentic setting in which to engage with ongoing scientific research and health messages.

“By enabling them to understand the science underlying how lifestyle choices at an early age can drastically affect their health and that of their future children, we empower them to make healthier lifestyle choices.”

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