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Recently in the media and coming from government there has been a lot of reporting into childhood obesity and how it is perceived that in the UK there epidemic in obesity in children in the UK. Some of the repercussions from this have been reactions from many areas such as schools banning junk foods and regulating what children bring to school in their lunch packs (an example). This can be seen as a good measure towards healthy eating, however food manufactures still continue to ‘design’ foods that are unhealthy and advertise them with children and their lunchboxes in mind. A lot of these foods are high in sugar, fat and salt and contribute to an unhealthy diet.
Values lines and convenience foods are cheap and easily accessible and seen as a bonus to any busy family, these products are used a lot by families rather then cooking a meal from raw ingredients. Some children are growing up in families without the basic cooking skills to provide themselves with nutritional cooked meals. Schools do not seem to be ‘teaching’ how to cook as they used prior to the 80’s. One of the results of this could be that young families not being able to cook foods due to the lack of basic skills. BRASS has a good paper outlining some of these issues clearly.
Wherever you go in the UK there are many fast food outlets selling junk foods, children are growing up in the UK seeing this as the norm and their perceptions of food are based on junk food, fast foods and convenience foods. Some measures are being made to counter act these problems such as ’Jamie Olivers School Dinners.
In February 2005 the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) carried out an analysis of data from the Health Survey for England 2003 on Obesity and the Facts. In their conclusion they showed that there had not been a huge increase in childhood obesity, as being hyped by the media and professionals, between the years 1993 - 2003.
Although healthy eating is not to be ignored, on a daily basis we are flooded with ‘advice’ as to what is and what is not healthy. Food fashions change and people are getting confused and anxious as to what they should and should not eat. The SIRC are currently looking at this issue and have devised a ‘Timeline’ of dietary advice. A recent report in The Guardian by Steve Cochrane highlighted how people can be confused with what is being reported these days.
The continuing hype in the media of the ‘perfect’ body image could also be contributing to children’s perceived body images. A recent report in The Independent claimed that girls as young as six years old were dissatisfied with their body weight and want to be thinner. Issues such as these can lead to eating disorders and huge health implications. Researchers suggest that media imagines can have an adverse effect on young girls perceptions of their own body image, thus leading to unhealthy eating behaviours. This is also being shown now with males. On average a teenage girl will see between 400 - 600 advertisements per day before she is seventeen. The advertising for thinness = beauty promoted by the media is influencing young girls to attain an unrealistic body image and normalising unrealistic thinness. Within males, the drive to attain the ‘perfect’ body, being promoted by the media and marketing, has lead to a rise in the use of anabolic steroids and dietary supplements. The health implications from any or all of these problems can have just as devastating effect on health as obesity can.
BPUK does not promote that being obese is correct nor right, what is does support is looking for the right answers for the UK public to have good basic information and more regulation of the information given. BPUK would like to see: -
- · Clearer information on manufactured and processed foods products.
- · A reduction in advertising of fast and junk food geared towards children.
- · Better access to food preparation education for all.
- · Clearer information on health eating.
- · A reduction in unrealistic body imaging in the media.
- · Clearer information given to the public of research and not just media interpretations.
- · Cheaper access to health clubs for people on low incomes.
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