Not only adults, but also children suffer from overweight. More and more often. The frequency of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents is increasing and is now somewhere 15-20% according the most conservative estimates.

Even 30 years ago the picture was different, but the frequency of overweight in children and adolescents should not exceed 10%. These trends are frightening, as well as obesity in childhood, it will certainly lead to adult obesity with all its consequences. No more than 5% of children have health reasons to overweight. In other cases, doctors find no diseases that might cause unnecessary kilograms. These not less than 95% cases are caused by some natural reasons our children face in everyday life, choice of food, communicating with us or each other.

Foodstuff advertising becomes increasingly oriented on children

1

Recent developments in food culture

General trends humankind is facing now - our food is becoming more and more fatty, sweet and refined. The increasing share of energy is accounted for goodies. Market laws play not the least role in these developments - food manufacturers have to feed fat, blase people. So, they need advertising to convince us eating a cheeseburger or biscuit. And if we can still figuring out what is useful and what is not, then our children are completely defenseless in front of this flow of advertising.

Foodstuff advertising is increasingly oriented on children. Well, what does it invite them to eat or drink? Coca-Cola - a drink containing 4 teaspoons of sugar (!) on a glass. Crackers for children’s breakfasts contain about 10% fat (usual bread contains only 1-2% fat), potato chips which fat content reaches 30%, milk drinks twice more fat than normal milk, plus, with abnormally high sugar content .

All these products may not be the basis for modern human nutrition, which directly contribute to increasing body weight. But advertising does not just advise them to eat. It creates a culture of consumption. What a company, a hail-fellow talk without chips, nuts or crackers, fried in butter? How to play, run and jump, not hinder without a candy bar? A party without cola? Do not tell!

As a result, we obtain a generation of people used to snacks, preferring too fat and sweet food.

2

Predominance of sedentary leisure time

Children should play. It is during a game when experience, relationships with each other, choice of roles, behaviors, and so on are formed. This process is absolutely necessary for normal development of human personality and psyche. And until recently, games even protected our children from overweight. They required much energy.

But it turned out that playing and learning «adults» skills can be done while sitting. You can engage in the eastern arts, play basketball or football not leaving your computer.

By the way, confining way of life is dangerous not only with reduction in energy consumption, but it also increases food consumption. To feel the effect of this mechanism, it is enough to remember when we eat more, on weekdays or weekends? Studies show that food consumption over the weekend is about 20-30% percent higher than on weekdays.

3

Bad example of parents

A generally recognized fact. Fat children appear in families with fat parents much more frequently. It is believed that if mom and dad have overweight, all their children will be at least inclined to corpulence. If obesity is observed in one of parents, a probability of extra kilos in the descendants is about 50-60%. Why? Here scientists disagree. Some believe genetics is to blame. Some genes transmitted by inheritance make a probability of overweight significantly higher, than the average for population. Other reasonably observe that, in addition to any genes, children adopt parents’ lifestyles and habits of nutrition.

Most likely, both sides are right. The tendency to corpulence is partly inherited, other part is transferred with education. Children watching full parents unwittingly adopt the way of their nutrition (often with usual excess of fats and sugars), attitude to mobility (often negative). And extra kilograms are already a consequence of such lifestyle.

Strict bans do not help to lose weight

4

Too harsh bans

But sometimes everything is accurate to the contrary. Parents, being aware of overweight, start restricting child’s nutrition at the slightest sign of completeness, prohibit him chocolate and sweets, eating after 6 P.M., forcing him to run for the stadium and so on. Their actions are dictated by a concern for a child, but actually do not help him losing weight. Moreover, there is always a way to steal food: a grandmother, money, hidden and spent on crisps or chocolate bars. A negative attitude to stress and athletic endeavors are formed. A child continues gaining weight. This justifies parents in concoction of new ways to limit tasty food, but a child becomes more shifty in search of food. The circle is closed.