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Fat's a lot for school scales
A SCHOOL has blown £10,000 on a set of SCALES.
But teachers say the hi-tech kit is so good it has helped one pupil lose 10½ stone.
Kids take turns to stand on the scales and hold a sensor which passes an electric current through their body. It measures fat and muscle levels, bone density and even possible vitamin and nutrient deficiencies.
The InBody Analysis machine emails the pupil a report on their health, plus a copy to their parents. Headmaster Paul Kelley said it has had a "hugely positive effect" at 1,000-pupil Monkseaton Community High in North Tyneside - the first UK school to have the device.
He explained: "It helps children see how certain muscles are growing stronger and exactly where they're losing body fat - it really puts them in the driving seat."
Pupil Ethan Rowan, 18, has lost 10st 7lbs. The scales are more accurate than the Government-backed body mass index calculation based on height and weight. That has been criticised because it does not identify muscle weight - so fit kids have been branded fat.
Dr Kelley said: "We want a clearer picture than labelling fat or thin. We're not a nanny school that badgers pupils - we provide information."
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