HUNDREDS of children are set to start tucking into tangerines and biting into bananas each day as part of a new lottery funded healthy eating scheme.

From May, all pupils aged four to six at Bolton primary schools will be offered free fruit every day in a bid to encourage better eating habits.

The schools are among 2,600 around the North West taking part in the £42 million School Fruit pilot programme.

And news of the scheme, which is funded through the National Lottery's New Opportunities Fund, comes just days after Bolton learned it is also to get £150,000 lottery cash to promote a scheme urging people in the most deprived parts of the town to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day.

Research has shown that eating fruit and vegetables each day helps reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease and that healthy eating habits formed in early childhood prevent disease in later life.

But a survey carried out by the Food Standards Agency shows that people living in the North West are the least likely to eat fresh salad, fruit and vegetables, with only one in five people eating the recommended five portions a day.

At present schools in the West Midlands and London are already handing out free fruit to young school children at break times as part of a pilot project for the Department of Health's National School Fruit Scheme, which is expected to go nationwide next year.

Research undertaken at the first schools to take part in the pilot scheme suggested more than half noticed an improvement in the classroom, with increased attention levels and ability to settle down to work.

Most popular fruit with the children was the banana followed by apples, and satsumas.

Launching the school fruit scheme in the North West Public Health Minister Hazel Blears said: "A piece of fruit each day has the potential to make a real difference to children's health and protect them from disease later in life. We know from the pilots what positive benefits it can have across the whole school."