Offbeat: Students should be graded on weight

France’s top diet guru Pierre Dukan is urging the government to grade students on their weight in a bid to curb growing obesity.
In a book to be published today, Dukan suggests that students in their last two years of high school be awarded extra marks if they manage to maintain an acceptable Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on height and weight.
“Obesity is a real public health problem that is rarely – if at all – taken into account by politicians,” Dukan told newspaper Le Parisien ahead of the book’s launch.
Dukan said his education plan would be “a good way to sensitise teenagers to the need for a balanced diet.”
He denied it would punish overweight children, saying: “There is nothing wrong with educating children about nutrition. This will not change anything for those who do not need to lose weight. For the others, it will motivate them.”
The book is entitled “An Open Letter to the Future President” and is being released ahead of a presidential election in France in April.
France has taken a series of measures to fight what experts say is increasing obesity in the country, including the introduction on January 1 of a tax on sugary drinks.