The Hindu Business Line : Eat with family to fight obesity

The new epidemic `gripping the world' is obesity. Thus say Lisa Tartamella, Elaine Herscher, and Chris Woolston in Generation Extra Large, from Basic Books (www.basicbooks.com). "Far too many kids are too fat. Their bodies aren't just getting bigger — they're slowly breaking down... And the teenagers seem so much bigger than fourteen-year-olds used to be."

Only, the epidemic doesn't seem to attract `busloads of scientists or reporters,' rue the authors. "One of the most disquieting things about obesity is how quickly and accommodatingly we've settled into it, towing our kids along with us." Not a mere social or aesthetic issue, because "today's children may be the first in history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents."

The book cites the findings of a study from the University of Alabama thus: "A 20-year-old who is very overweight may expect to live 13 fewer years than someone the same age who has a normal weight." Another study at the University of California found that "overweight kids have a worse quality of life than young cancer patients." More than distant worries such as heart disease, it is the present that daunts them. Because "They get called names on the playground. They get picked last in gym. They have trouble making friends. They are bullied or they turn into bullies themselves." Sadly, most obese kids respond to ridicule with self-loathing. "And their shame rises with the needle on the scale."

Make two changes in your complex lives, exhorts the book. One, family meal, and two, exercise with kids once a day. "Regular family meals improved language skills among preschoolers, boosted the grades of older kids, and not surprisingly, increased everyone's consumption of healthier foods. By simply eating with their family, kids ate more vegetables, drank less soda, and took in fewer fatty and fried foods."

Re-examine your too-busy lives and find time for active play with your children, counsel the authors. "Shooting hoops, riding bikes, or dancing to music with your children may seem like a small thing. But it frees them, however briefly, from the lure of television, video games, and the sedentary lifestyle that has helped pave the way for the obesity epidemic." Prescribed read.

Who is to blame?

"In a recent A.C. Nielsen poll, two thirds of parents of overweight children blamed themselves. Another ten per cent blamed the child." People are responsible for what they eat, but level-playing field between consumers and the food industry is missing, point out the authors, giving US statistics. "The fast food industry alone spends $3 billion a year in advertising to children, nearly 1,000 times the federal government's $3.6 million yearly budget promoting consumption of fruits and vegetables."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has pointed out how with more families moving to urban areas, there is `a new opportunity to grow fat.' "Every large city in the world now offers plenty of quick calories on the go, often in the form of brand-name fast food," write the authors. "City dwellers also have easy access to processed foods that are subtly or not-so-subtly sweetened with sugars, from cereals to white bread to potato chips."

(Send in your career queries to BillOfHealth@gmail.com.)

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Eat with family to fight obesity