Jamie Oliver’s ‘back-to-basics’ approach to improving our diets really does work
- Jamie Oliver launched his Ministry of Food courses eight years ago
- Back-to-basics cooking lessons were aimed at inspiring healthy eating
- Independent study found courses really do improve eating habits
- People ate half as many snacks and more fruit and vegetables afterwards
Oda Ottesen For Mailonline
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Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food courses really do help improve people’s diets, a study has found
Jamie Oliver’s ‘back-to-basics’ approach to improving our diets really does work, a study has found.
People who attended one of the celebrity chef’s eight-week Ministry of Food courses showed ‘significant improvements’ in their eating habits afterwards, researchers found.
After taking the course, people halved the amount of snacks they ate and became much more confident about their cooking skills.
Men in particular became more comfortable preparing healthy dishes.
And those who took part ate more fruit and vegetables afterwards, researchers found.
The study, by Leeds University was independent – and wasn’t funded by Oliver.
Professor Janet Cade, of Leeds University’s School of Food Science and Nutrition, said: ‘These positive changes emerged immediately following the course and had increased further by six months after the course.
‘This suggests that the Ministry of Food programme may encourage short-term changes in dietary behaviour which can be maintained and improve over longer periods of time.
‘When we analysed the results by sex we found that men – who previous studies have shown tend to have less confidence in cooking than women – actually reported a greater growth in confidence than the women who took part.’
Oliver, 41, who first came to prominence as the Naked Chef, launched his Ministry of Food (MoF) courses in 2008, saying that he wanted to inspire the nation to prepare tasty, nutritious food, whatever their budget.
He described the project as the most important campaign he had ever worked on.
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There are now four standalone MoF centres in Britain, as well as outreach courses in the community, and allied projects in Australia and the United States.
For the new study, researchers surveyed almost 800 people who took part in MoF courses held in Leeds, West Yorkshire, between 2010 and 2014.
They found that the number of fruit and vegetable portions eaten by the people on the course increased from 2.7 before the programme to 3.4 immediately afterwards.
When 500 of the participants were surveyed six months later, the average number of fruit and vegetable portions eaten daily had increased even further, to 4.1.
People who attended one of the celebrity chef’s eight-week Ministry of Food courses (the one in Rotherham is pictured) showed ‘significant improvements’ in their eating habits afterwards, researchers found
Oliver, 41, launched his courses in 2008 to ‘inspire the nation to prepare tasty, nutritious food, whatever their budget’. He is pictured at his own book launch (left) in Berlin and with actress Cheryl Cole (right)
And the number of snacks eaten per day dropped from two before the course to 1.7 immediately afterwards. Six months later this had dropped to just 1.1.
The participants also reported significant gains in their levels of cooking confidence, rising from a score of 2.7 on the scale – where 0 was marked as not at all confident and 5 very confident – before the course, to 4.1 immediately afterwards and 4.4 six months later.
Jamie Oliver said: ‘Ministry of Food, for me, has always been about empowering people and giving them the knowledge and the confidence to feed themselves and their families better.
‘The beauty of it is that it’s all about local people helping other local people to create delicious, fresh, nutritious food that doesn’t cost a fortune.
People taking the eight- week Ministry of Food course halved the amounts of snacks they ate afterwads and increased their intake of fruits and vegetables, the study found
‘This important study shows that teaching people to cook really works and really does make a huge difference.
‘If only more towns and cities had Ministry of Food Centres.’
Professor Cade added: ‘In the UK there has been a decline in cooking skills since the 1950s.
‘Home-made meals have been replaced with ready meals and convenience foods.
‘This lack of cooking ability coupled with ready access to high energy convenience foods has contributed to an increase in the number of people who are now overweight.
‘Our study shows that if you help people improve their cooking skills using basic ingredients, and their confidence in these skills, then they might make healthier food choices.’
The study was published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.
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