Slim students should receive extra marks, says French nutritionist

A French nutritionist has claimed that slim students should receive extra marks in their final year exams (the baccalaureat).

Pierre Dukan, whose diet book has sold 8 million copies, proposed the initiative to his country's presidential candidates in a bid to cut down on child obesity.

He told Reuters: "It's a fantastic motivator. The baccalaureat is really important in France.

"Kids want to get it, their parents want them to even more, so why not get them to work together on nutrition?"

Dukan wants those with a BMI (body mass index) between 18 and 25 to score additional points, while students who fall in that range but were initially overweight at the start of the course would gain double the bonus marks.

The 250-paged 'An Open Letter to the Future President' also includes 119 other suggestions to counter obesity.

France previously introduced a tomato ketchup ban for primary schools, allowing children to only have the sauce once a week with fries.

> Tomato sauce classed as vegetable in US