The initiative, launched in Scotland in 2012, involves children walking or running for at least 15 minutes during the school day, usually around one mile, in addition to any PE lessons.
The new research, thought to be the largest of its kind to study the impact of the initiative with primary school children, has been published in the International Journal of Obesity and was funded by Birmingham City Council.
A total of 40 Birmingham schools took part in the study, half of which were randomly chosen to implement the Daily Mile, while the other half were placed into a ‘control group’ and implemented the school’s usual health and well-being activities.
At the start of the study in April 2017, all children were weighed and measured, and their body mass index calculated, as well as their percentage of body fat. The children’s health-related level of quality of life was also calculated.
Researchers found overall that the body mass index of children doing the Daily Mile after 12 months was more likely to change compared to those who did not take part.
There was a greater impact on girls than boys however, leading the researchers to conclude that the initiative is cost effective for girls, but not boys.
Lead researcher Emma Frew told Nursery World, 'We measured quality of life using validated questionnaires that allowed us to offset any quality of life improvements as a result of doing The Daily Mile against the cost of doing it (in terms of teacher supervision time). When we did this, we found The Daily Mile to be highly cost-effective in girls, as girls had a greater quality of life improvement than boys.
'This extra quality of life improvement in girls meant that it was cost-effective for them. We are more uncertain of the cost-effectiveness in boys as they didn’t experience the same levels of quality of life improvement.'
Dr Sandra Passmore, senior advisor at services for education in Birmingham, added, ‘Schools have been identified as a key place to improve physical activity levels, so it is important, that all interventions are tested to ensure the most effective – both clinically and financially - measures are in place.
‘This is the first major clinical trial to report on the impact of the Daily Mile in primary and junior schools within a real-world setting and provides invaluable evidence.’
The researchers are now calling for further study to determine any differences of the Daily Mile on children from different socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities. They also want to explore the impact of the intervention, such as physical activity levels and academic outcomes.
They hope that the study will lead to a recommendation that all primary and junior schools participate in the Daily Mile. Currently over 10,500 schools and nurseries world-wide have adopted the intervention, which is recommended by the UK Government as part of its plan to tackle childhood obesity.
Kate Booth, cabinet member for children’s wellbeing at Birmingham City Council, said, ‘It is so important that children are encouraged at an early age to be as active as possible, particularly during the school day when they will spend a lot of time sitting in classrooms. The results of this study are a really good start and it’s great to see Birmingham schools taking part.’