Obesity crisis - Death by a thousand calories

OUR children are fatter than ever before and are getting fatter. Unless they buck long-established trends they will be the fattest generation of Irish people ever.

The impact of the aromatic grunge that passes for food at many takeaway outlets is so profound that they — possibly the children you drive to school every day — might be the first generation of Irish people who will not live as long as their parents.

This has huge health, psychological and emotional implications, especially in a country with a health service struggling to cope with current needs.

“Obesity in children has reached epidemic levels... with many overweight children going on to become overweight adults... potentially leading to increased health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and joint problems,” warned Professor Patrick Wall of UCD at the launch of a report, developed as part of a Pfizer ‘Way2Go’ initiative aimed at tackling obesity among our children.

Though the core obesity message is worrying enough the confused values revealed are almost as disconcerting.

The report found that children think being healthy means looking good and that children are more concerned with the social consequences of being fat than they are about the health implications.

Other research found that children as young as four can have a strong prejudice towards overweight people, that they had little sympathy with them. Their perception is that such people are lazy, spending all their time watching TV and are responsible for their own woes. In many instances that may be true but in too many it is because of a high-sugar, high-fat diet, because they, and their parents, know no better.

Maybe preparing food has become a chore too far for busy families. This argument is borne out by the finding that of the children surveyed most ate takeaway food at least three times a week.

Maybe parents cannot cook or do not care about food, maybe they are just too worn out at the end of the day to do the meat, spuds and two veg or whatever the healthy, contemporary staple might be.

This report, and so many more like it already published, have all warned us that we are condemning our children to an unhealthy future. Once again we are left with a feeling that we are not doing enough.

Just this month health authorities in New York introduced legislation to force restaurant chains to put calorie counts on menus. The city hopes that by revealing fat levels in some dishes they will convince diners to choose healthier alternatives. The rule applies to any chain that operates more than 15 outlets. There are many similar options available to us, especially in the fields of advertising, education and food labelling.

For whatever reason the price we might pay is just too high, we simply cannot send our children out into the world, supersized and illiterate about exercise and diet, waddling towards an early grave.

Even though many parents are already time-poor and guilty about a curtailed family life this could be a life-long legacy that would enhance the lives of all of our children. A legacy worth passing on.