France's Child Obesity Numbers Leveling Off
Childhood obesity is a problem in Europe just as it’s a problem in the United States. In 2007, it is estimated that three million Europeans were obese with 85,000 more children becoming obese every year. But, the big news yesterday was that the childhood obesity problem in France is leveling off.
So what strategies are being used in France to combat childhood obesity? France eliminated all vending machines in schools in 2005. In addition, the French health minister called for a voluntary halt to advertising of certain foods on children’s television.
While two new studies found that the same rate of obesity existed among seven to nine year-olds in France in 2000 and 2007, the researchers could not prove that the new strategies are the reason for the leveling of the numbers.
French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said, “Public health policy has changed a lot in France since 2000, but we cannot prove that the stabilization is due to these interventions.”
One of the researchers suggested that France has paid a lot of attention to the issue of childhood obesity and possibly, the overall awareness has had an impact.
The authors of both studies said that more work needs to be done to determine the impact specific strategies have on the problem of childhood obesity.
One additional finding was consistent in both studies. Children from the lowest socio-economic group were 2.5 to three times more likely to be obese than children in the highest socio-economic group.
Source: AFP
BLOG QUESTION
Do you think that the advertising of unhealthy foods on children’s television has an impact on childhood obesity?
Do you think vending machines should be removed from all public schools as a strategy to combat childhood obesity?
So what strategies are being used in France to combat childhood obesity? France eliminated all vending machines in schools in 2005. In addition, the French health minister called for a voluntary halt to advertising of certain foods on children’s television.
While two new studies found that the same rate of obesity existed among seven to nine year-olds in France in 2000 and 2007, the researchers could not prove that the new strategies are the reason for the leveling of the numbers.
French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said, “Public health policy has changed a lot in France since 2000, but we cannot prove that the stabilization is due to these interventions.”
One of the researchers suggested that France has paid a lot of attention to the issue of childhood obesity and possibly, the overall awareness has had an impact.
The authors of both studies said that more work needs to be done to determine the impact specific strategies have on the problem of childhood obesity.
One additional finding was consistent in both studies. Children from the lowest socio-economic group were 2.5 to three times more likely to be obese than children in the highest socio-economic group.
Source: AFP
BLOG QUESTION
Do you think that the advertising of unhealthy foods on children’s television has an impact on childhood obesity?
Do you think vending machines should be removed from all public schools as a strategy to combat childhood obesity?
1 Comments:
I think that advertising for food on children's television has had an impact on childhood obesity. Advertising causes people to recognize that certain product so kids would recognize the product in a store. If France cut down on kids food advertising it might decrease the obesity rate. Vending machines do not need to be removed, but more healthy foods cold be put in. That way kids can still acess a vending machine, but they don't have to worry about unhealthy snacks.
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