Posts Tagged ‘kids obesity’

Children’s packed lunches are a disaster. It is a failure to provide not just proper nutrition, but to pack know chemical poisons. The taste that kills is what we feed our children year in year out. 

Research that is going to be in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports that only one per cent of primary school children who brought lunches met the nutritional standards set for school meals in England.

What this means is that chips, sweets, and sugary drinks are preferred to vegetables, fruit, and milk based products. It also means children’s lunch disasters are in the lunch box they bring to school.

No Surprise

This is the trend in most industrialized nations. In the United States children are suffering from the same type of carbohydrate overload. Convenience is only one of the factors. The lethal effects of excess calories are known. Couple that with empty calories and we have the ingredients for a generation of obese and sickly children.

Formula for Lifelong Health Problems

A recent report from the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR) states that excess body fat is now seen as a major cause of some cancers. There are newer studies that seem to find that excess body fat lowers immune function and increases oxidative stress. All this can lead to DNA damage.

All these lunches provide excess calories and turn off the longevity genes. The habits formed in early childhood, are the ones that persist throughout life. The most effective way to prevent disease and extend life is watching what goes in to children’s lunchboxes.

Childhood is when taste preferences are formed. The type lunch that is sent to school with children will either set them up for impaired glucose control or undermine their metabolic functions.

Example

The food in a child’s lunchbox can contain as much sugar as ten doughnuts research shows.

A snapshot survey by a consumer watchdog group found that a packed lunch made up of five seemingly healthy items, including cheese and biscuits and fruit juice, contained 60g of sugar. This may be a complaint in Britain, but it sure is not that different here. The results of our food supply shows health concerns seem to take back seat to the food industries goals.

The Children’s Food Campaign coordinator, Jackie Schneider, commented: “Although these findings are appalling, we are not surprised. A whole industry has grown up around producing foods for lunchboxes, which can contain high levels of salt, fat or sugar. Parents are often misled by marketing for these lunchbox products, which make health claims like ‘high in vitamins’ but also turn out to be high in salt, fat or sugar as well.”

Spoiling

Sometimes parents offer these delights in the lunch box and spoil their children with these so called treats. What they are spoiling is a chance for their children to remain disease free. 

“Junk foods are altering the structure and function of the human brain while increasing and decreasing insulin levels so quickly that junk food leaves students groggy in class. (Simontacchi, 2000) A child’s brain continues to develop through until adulthood; many of the foods that students eat affect the growth of critical areas of their brain. When growth is disrupted, it can cause negative behavior reactions in the classroom. Often times, doctors do not seek the root of the problem (food) but instead they mask the behavioral symptoms with drugs such as Ritalin or Prozac which have their own series of side effects, all while the brain development continues to be damaged. (Simontacchi, 2000)

Simotacchi is the author of the book The Crazy Maker: the Food Industry is Destroying our Brains and Harming our Children.

Performance analytics show that children who consume low-nutrient content junk food diets perform poorly in academics. Their cognitive skills are impaired and at the same time they become anxious and hyperactive. Concentration is down so they do not have the opportunity or capacity to learn as well.

Success vs. Failure

Most of the calories are not only empty, but are in a large part from sugar. It is a problem because it creates a roller coaster in the body, with highs of hyper energy followed by drowsiness. It takes anywhere from one to three hours to come down from a sugar high. Sugar addiction comes because of the need for the fix again.

This kind of eating is not due to the failure of the food industry. They are succeeding in making a profit at the expense of our children. Dominating the market is their goal and they are succeeding, better than all expectations. Their job from a business standpoint is not in providing health food, but to successfully market their products.

Biology is not the corporate board meetings topic when looking for ingredients, it is global business. Every document, and task is geared for growing a global market.

Convincing adults and children that their food meets their nutritional needs is easy. We are addicted to the taste, and they know that is key to their profit. Their job is to maintain their brand and they have done that brilliantly.

They succeeded at the expense of our children’s health. Our children’s health suffers, while the food industry prospers. This is not a good trade-off.

Over The Top Perhaps