Kids today are fat – and getting fatter than ever before.
There is no longer a kind way to say it. The current generation is now the first in many ages that might not live as long as its parents because its eating habits are not only bad, they are horrible – and getting worse.
Today’s children are not eating enough vegetables and fruit, they pack away too much junk food, and they seldom get enough exercise – especially in the winter.
That was the conclusion of a recent Heart and Stroke Report on the Health of Ontario’s Kids.
Because of all that, Ontario children face an unhealthy childhood and are at risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. It means those children could be injecting insulin in their 20s and be at risk at that very early age for heart attacks and other ailments.
“This report should serve as a wake-up call that the health of our children is not making the grade,” Dr. Marco Di Buono, Director of Research of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, said in a press release about the survey.
It is the first survey of its kind conducted in Ontario, and it found the number of children eating the daily recommendations for fruit and vegetables is getting worse. It dropped by more than one third in 10 years, when rates were already low.
A decade ago, one in five children nationally ate five or more servings of fruit and vegetables daily, which barely meets Health Canada’s daily recommended minimum. By 2009, that rate in Ontario had dropped to a mere one in eight children (13 per cent).
More parents report their children are eating whole grains, but the survey also shows the number of children eating junk food has remained consistently high. Seventy-five per cent of Ontario’s children still consume high-fat, high-sugar or high-salt snack foods up to twice a week; 24 per cent of parents report their kids eat junk food three or more times a week.
There is some good News in the report: 85 per cent of parents reported their children are physically active during the summer. But during the winter, the proportion of kids who are active drops dramatically, to only 57 per cent.
The survey was of Ontario, but in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health’s jurisdiction, the numbers are just as bad.
Public Health dietician Doreen Henderson said a survey taken in 2004 of the area, and just released recently after analysis, showed that one of three children in the area is obese or at risk of becoming obese. That means fat. It means overweight. It means being at risk for health problems.
Henderson and the Heart and Stroke Foundation survey analyzers agree: parents are not exactly reliable when it comes to reporting on their children’s eating habits and their weight problems.
The foundation survey was conducted using a sample of 1,189 Ontario parents of children aged 6 to 12. While the results are poor, the foundation said the true tale could easily be even worse. The poll was based on parents responding to questions about their children’s activities and eating habits, and analysts say parents tend to view their children’s habits “through rose-coloured glasses.”
For example, in this year’s poll, 14 per cent of parents reported their child is “somewhat overweight” and another one per cent said their child is “very overweight,” for a total of 15 per cent.
Yet Statistics Canada reports that over the past 25 years, the rate of overweight and obese Canadian children aged 2 to 17 has grown to 26 per cent. In Ontario, the current rate of overweight and obesity is even higher, at 28 per cent. That data comes from researchers who actually weighed and measured the children.
“This suggests that, like many ‘self-report’ findings, parents do not accurately perceive their child’s weight,” said Dr. Sean Wharton, Heart and Stroke Foundation medical advisor and obesity expert.
Henderson agreed. She said in her experience parents reporting such things as children’s weights and food intakes tend to show a far prettier picture than experts find when they actually weigh the children. Similarly, the foundation noted parents may be under estimating their children’s junk food consumption – and overestimating their children’s level of physical activity.
"Childhood is a crucial time where habits are developed that, in many cases, can last a lifetime," said Dr. Wharton. "It’s a natural instinct to not see the worst in anyone – especially in our children. We need parents to think about the importance of actions that promote a healthy weight as a means of prevention in the same way they look at washing your hands, brushing your teeth and getting your vaccines."
Bad food environment
Henderson said that, just as advertising influenced children over the years, so does today’s advertising climate. In fact, she noted that food advertisers target children to choose their products, and even use psychologists to determine which colours will attract kids to the product.
Other advertising targets children to coerce mom and dad into buying junk food – and that advertising works. Henderson said it becomes difficult for parents to say no all the time.
She concluded, “We have an environment that promotes obesity.”
She cited such things as larger containers for softdrinks and fruit flavoured juices, and noted even the automobile industry has taken note – and provided larger cup holders.
Henderson said that even schools, once famous for unhealthy cafeteria foods, are joining forces with the health industry and government to provide children with healthier food.
“It’s rare to see hot dogs in school any more,” Henderson said, adding that pizza these days can have healthier toppings than those of the past.
She added, “We’re working closely with the school boards. The will is there.”
Henderson also cited In Motion, an activity program being promoted in schools and out in Wellington and Dufferin Counties and Guelph. Participation has been good, and so has support from officials at local levels of government.
That support is also firming up at the provincial level.
She said the Ministry of Education is planning to release a new policy this September on food in schools, and that policy will be implemented next September.
But, she noted, healthy school food also depends on what children bring in their lunches.
Henderson said she does not see children on a clinical basis, as some of her colleagues do, but she said she has heard from them, and said the warnings of the past few years about serious consequences of childhood obesity are certainly here today. Older children are now being diagnosed with high blood pressure, with blood lipid abnormalities (high blood fat), and diabetes.
Diabetes can be treated by diet and pills, but it can also force people to take insulin injections several times a day. Further, diabetics are at risk for heart disease, blindness, and loss of limbs, among a host of other ailments, including early death.
Henderson said, “In the United States, life expectancy in several counties has decreased because of obesity.”
She concluded, “It’s important to look at prevention.”
That includes eating healthy foods rather than junk foods, and also getting plenty of exercise.
Henderson said, “Our society is obeseogenic. It’s everywhere.”
High cost of healthy food
Some have suggested that a shortage of cash is one reason people do not buy as much fresh fruit and vegetables as they need to eat.
A survey released in February from the national arm of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, found that almost three-quarters of families with children occasionally or almost always go without certain foods because of cost.
“Nearly half (48 per cent) of all parents polled reported they at least occasionally have to go without buying particular types of food because of cost, with another 24 per cent reporting that occurs almost every time they shop. Rates ranged across the province, from a low of 52 per cent in Southwestern Ontario to a high of 79 per cent in Northern Ontario.
The top three food categories that families are choosing to skip when money is tight are:
– meat and poultry (reported by 32 per cent of respondents);
– fresh fruit and vegetables (28 per cent); and
– dairy products (21 per cent).
“It takes a lot of skill to eat a healthy diet on a limited budget,” Henderson admitted.
Meanwhile, Dr. Di Buono said trying to place blame for the problem of growing childhood obesity is neither helpful nor productive.
"The issue is very complex – far more than simply individual bad choices. Childhood obesity is a societal problem and will require a societal response."
