From Your Health Journal…..”A very interesting article by By Bruce Deachman in the Ottawa Citizen entitled Ban Junk Food Ads Aimed At Preteens. I have been posting a lot here over the last few days about Canada’s concern over their obesity epidemic facing their country. Now, a new report from the Ontario government is stating they want to cut childhood obesity by 20 per cent in five years. A new report is stating the Ontario government should ban junk food and fast food ads aimed at children under 12, and insist that restaurants include the number of calories in each dish on their menus. This is a very interesting article, and I wanted to promote it here as I feel it is an important one to read. Please visit the Ottawa Citizen web site (link provided below) to read the complete article.”
From the article…..
Report aims to cut childhood obesity by 20 per cent in five years
The Ontario government should ban junk food and fast food ads aimed at children under 12, and insist that restaurants include the number of calories in each dish on their menus, according to a report released Monday.
The report, titled No Time to Wait: The Healthy Kids Strategy, says that if steps aren’t taken to curb childhood obesity, today’s youths will develop chronic illnesses at a younger age, which will adversely affect their health as they grow older and further tax an already overburdened health care system.
The wide-ranging report also recommends bans on displays of junk food at retail store cash registers, starting with sugar-sweetened beverages.
“If nothing is done,” it states, “the current generation of children in Ontario will be the first that has a lower quality of life than their parents.”
It warns, too, that in the long run, increased obesity will “mark our DNA, changing our metabolism and genetically reprogramming future generations of children to be at greater risk of being overweight.”
The report was prepared by Ontario’s Healthy Kids Panel, which was co-chaired by CHEO president and CEO Alex Munter and ParticipACTION head Kelly Murumets. The panel was asked last year to develop a strategy to help meet the government’s goal of reducing obesity in children by 20 per cent over the next five years. In 2009, child obesity cost the province an estimated $4.5 billion, while almost one-third of children in Ontario are overweight or obese.
Junk food is far from being the only target of the report, which also recommends educating women of child-bearing age about health and weight; encouraging food retailers to adopt an easy-to-understand and objective food-rating system; providing incentives for food producers, retailers and others who participate in community-based food-distribution programs; and developing a provincewide school nutrition program for elementary and secondary schools.
According to Munter, the 18-member panel spoke to thousands of parents, met with hundreds of experts and organizations, and researched papers, reports and existing programs in Ontario and elsewhere while putting together what he believes is a comprehensive plan.
“We reviewed hundreds of ideas, and boiled it down to an achievable, feasible three-pronged strategy to give kids the best start in life, change the food environment, and create healthy communities.”
To read the complete article…..Click here