With childhood obesity on the rise, a mental health support team manager for Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has launched research trials which looks at ways to tackle the problem.

In the UK today, 36 per cent of children are overweight. That figure is expected to rise to 41 per cent by 2034.

Grace Cloke is a mental health support team manager for Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and for almost two years, she has been studying for a doctorate, focusing on childhood obesity.

He study, titled the ‘mind power and healthy lifestyle study’, will look at a range of methods that can be put into practice to prevent obesity in children and young adults.

The study is across five papers, each of which includes early intervention methods to help children adopt healthier lifestyles, with the aim to prevent obesity in children and young adults.

Grace says: “Over the past 30 years obesity has doubled in children. It has also quadrupled in adolescents.

“I want to find out how we can teach kids and teens new ways of thinking and learning. I hope it will help them make healthy choices and avoid problems with obesity.”

Each paper has a different focus, with titles including: Developing a New Evaluation Tool, Helping Younger Children Build Healthy Habits, Supporting Children and Parents Together, Combining Learning with Real Life Activities, and A Digital Game for Teenagers

This studies vary from developing and testing new tools to assess quality of health and wellbeing resources for children, to exploring cognitive behavioural therapy workbooks.

Grace will even be developing a digital game for the final paper. The game, targeted at adolescents, will see players will help a character escape a fictional ‘junk food city’.

Grace says: “The first study is now live, and we should have the results back in the coming weeks.”