Last week a news report broke across Australia about pre school childhood obesity in Australia. The report stated:
About 20 percent of children are already overweight or obese by the time they start school; and 5 percent of Australian children aged 2–4 years are classified with obesity. In Australia, $17 million dollars a year are spent on preschool childhood obesity.
Channel 7’s Weekend Sunrise contacted us asking if I would be prepared to go live on air to talk about Parental Responsibility in the problem of childhood obesity. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity, because I wanted to share the messages we had been getting from parents as we travel Australia. (Even though it meant booking a hotel room in Perth overnight, and a 4am start to be in-studio for 5:20am Sunday morning!!)
You can watch the 5 minute Weekend Sunrise segment here:
Unfortunately, as live TV sometimes goes, time ran out before some important questions on this topic, such as Pre school Childhood Obesity – Who Is Responsible? had a chance to be covered. As you know, I am hugely passionate about our mission to Transform Children’s Health in Australia. I am an advocate for children’s health and for parents trying to be a stand for children’s health in today’s crazy food climate. For this reason, I feel compelled to share what I was planning on saying on National TV.
This conversation about children’s health needs to be had. Please be sure to add your comments – polite and constructive to the problem of childhood obesity – to the bottom of this post. I will be delighted to put your comments and thoughts in front of as many people as I can.
What I wanted to share on Weekend Sunrise
Grab yourself a cuppa or wine and please take the time to watch. It’s about 9 minutes, but it’s 9 important minutes which may change the lives of children. Thanks for watching and sharing. Here’s the video of what I *wanted* to share:
The remainder of this blog is dedicated to more fully exploring childhood obesity, why it is a problem and how our job as parents is made more difficult by the current food culture of processed food.
Why is pre-school childhood obesity a problem?
I do not intend to spend a lot of time dwelling here. I would much prefer to talk about what actions we can take to improve the current stats, and how we can take preventative measures, like empowering kids to make better food choices, and making it easier for parents to get their kids to eat healthier.
There are many reasons why pre-school childhood obesity is a problem. This is just a summary.
Studies
Studies have found the following:
- 20% of preschool kids are overweight or obese
- 5% between 2 and 4 are obese
- Children aged 2-4 who are obese are twice as likely to need medical support from hospitals, emergency visits and GP appointments
- The annual direct cost to the health system in Australia is $17 million dollars a year
- The cost to families was an extra $367 per year compared to a healthy child
- 80% of children who are obese as a child, go on to become obese in adulthood
- These children are more likely to suffer from chronic illness requiring hospitalisation, such as diabetes type 2, cardiovascular, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease, auto-immune disease and more
- Eating and exercise habits as a child play a large role in the habits as an adult
- The problem is getting bigger as kids get older, 27.4% of children between 5 and 17 are overweight or obese
Other Commentary
This commentary is really just the opportunity to get people thinking about the long term ramifications of childhood obesity continuing to climb.
- Children who get sick more often, are likely to need time off school. This will generally mean a parent needs to stay at home with them. What is the cost of lost productivity to business in Australia?
- If more children are ending up in the health care system, how long will the health care system be able to support this?
- If this generation of children end up as a larger population of sicker adults, will they be in the workforce or in the healthcare or welfare system? If the latter, then the amount of tax paying dollars available for our retirement funds diminish. Will us adults have to work longer and longer to support ourselves and the health of the current generation of kids?
In addition to this, what has become abundantly clear as we’ve travelled is there’s a whole generation of adults (younger than 35 years old) who have grown up with processed packaged food being their main staple of food. This means they are feeding their family, and role modelling to their children, what they grew up with: processed packaged food. What else can we expect of them? We need to empower the current generation children and the parents who grew up on processed food.
Who is responsible for a child’s health?
I covered this in the video, but it’s so important, I am repeating it. Without a doubt, it is a child’s health is a parents responsibility. This is especially so in the ages of 0-4 where the child is very heavily dependant on the parent for not only providing food, but helping them eat it.
However, what we have learnt from travelling Australia and having spoken to over 10,000 children and parents, is that many parents believe our job is being made more difficult by:
- food manufacturers
- packaging and labels
- advertising
- strategies employed at retail shops
I would tend to agree, but:
As parents, we are ultimately responsible for our children’s health.
Each week, we have 3 main opportunities to choose foods which nourish our kids bodies. These are when we:
- Put or allow foods into our trolley.
- Pay for them at the register.
- Serve or make available the food.
Each opportunity is a chance for us to make better choices. No amount of advertising, smart packaging or positioning in the supermarket can change this fact.
How have we got here?
Shift in Food Environment and Physical Activity
Professor Anna Peeters is the Head of Obesity and Population Health at Deakin University, and also appeared with me on Weekend Sunrise. Professor Peeters identifies the changes in our food environment over the last 30 years as a big contributing factor. This refers to the fact our culture is now so dependent on high energy, low nutritional value foods (eg. packaged food and fast food). The fact that this food is so much more available and appears cheaper exacerbates the problem. Professor Peeters adds this shift is against the backdrop of a reduction in our physical activity.
It’s important to say this is not our fault. The world has changed. The way we live has changed. Industrialisation opened the doors to changing how food is grown, manufactured and marketed. Advancement in technology has changed how much we move. The change has been rapid, and it’s been easy to be swept up in it.
Let’s explore more of what parents are telling us as we travel around:
Food Manufacturers
One of the biggest gifts we leave with children and parents in our Mad Food Science Program is a simple way to read packet labels. When they learn this, they are legitimately surprised at what’s in the food they have been feeding their kids. For many, it’s like the light bulb goes on and they realise why their kids are always asking them for certain foods. It’s like they realise for the first time that these foods are specifically designed to get our taste buds to go mad on our tongue so we just want to keep having them. They are being designed to create addictive tendencies. In fact, there are loads of studies which prove processed foods make our brains act like drugs such as cocaine. If you want to delve more into this, you can read this article by Medical Daily – processed foods can act like hard drugs. Or this one about Doritos being as addictive as crack.
Additives and preservatives, whether artificial or natural, are made in a lab with the specific purpose of making a food look or taste better, or to last on the shelf longer. I am continually shocked at the many stories parents tell us about how their children or even themselves have been adversely affected by atidditives or preservatives.
Our food culture has become about convenience foods, concocted in a lab and made in a factory. This shift has been out of our control, but what is in our control, is whether we continue to consume foods like this.
For a comprehensive list on additives and preservatives your best to avoid, visit Fedup.com.au . Other useful sites are Additive Free Pantry, Additive Free Kids, and SisterMixin.
Packaging and Labels
Aside from learning how to read packet labels, one of the best things we can do is to empower our kids and ourselves to really understand the science and strategy behind packaging and labels. When you start to look closely, you will notice just how every single facet of food manufacture is designed to get an addictive response.
In my Mad Food Science Workshops, I talk about this food that’s usually started in a lab, then made in a factory. I hold up packet after packet food to show the kids – the YUM’s are so loud it’s frightening. I am not even lying, in some cases, kids inch forward in the crowd just so they can get closer to this food. Insane, right? But that’s the addictive hold this food has.
I ask the kids: “What do you notice that is common across all the packets?” These are their responses. Take a look at this yourself next time you’re at the supermarket:
Tend be primary colours of red, green, blue and yellow
Think tiny teddy’s, BBQ shapes, Jumpies, etc. There is a colour science and the colours are designed to give you subliminal messages. Red is linked to making it appetising, green gives the impression of natural and healthy, yellow to it will make me happy. This article How Colour Influences Your Grocery Shopping is great if you want to learn more about the science of colour.
Generally have cute pictures that grab attention
Think again tiny teddy’s, jumping kangaroos, disney and pixar characters – in fact, I wrote about the use of characters in this blog called The Dark Side of The Force. All designed to attract the attention of our kids.
Make sound or have a certain feel in the hand
Think about how packets sound when you hold them in your hand. The sound makes the packet more exciting for kids.
Big Letters That Jump Out
They notice how the product name almost jumps off the packet to grab your attention. On closer look, they identify the smaller writing as being messages designed for parents. eg. no artificial colours or flavours.
Not Too Big
Most packets are the perfect size for little hands. Easy to hold and to run around with.
The art of packaging is just as strategic as the art of creating a taste. Put the two of them together, and it’s like a lethal weapon.
This infographic on how product packaging influences buying behaviour is really well done. It shows you all the considerations that go into packaging. Quite an eye opener.
Advertising
Advertising – it’s everywhere you look. From the TV, to print and radio, to bus shelters, buses, road side signs, social media etc. There really is no escaping this. The strategic nature of advertising is particularly evident as you’re driving. Have you ever noticed how there is usually a sign for say a fast food chain (think golden arches) usually a few km’s before an actual outlet? Then how the frequency of the signs increase the closer you get. Subliminal messaging to our brains that we need this food, so we had better pull in.
Then there is linking the product to famous people, especially sports people. Don’t even get me started about products like Gatorade which are linked to AFL and Cricket Australia. Then Nutrigrain – the iron man’s food etc.
I really could go on for hours about advertising but you’ve seen it too. You know what I mean. It’s everywhere. The best we can do is minimise our children’s exposure to it the best we can, and by talking to them about all of this.
Supermarket / Shop Strategies
Have you ever had a child throw a temper tantrum at the check out about not being able to have one of the many ‘so called treats’ that are in arms reach? Then you know exactly what I am talking about. Strategies designed to get you to buy foods. This is strongly linked to supermarket profits. Manufacturers pay big dollars for certain shelf space. Have you noticed how products are very conveniently put on the shelf at the height of the person it is being targeted. For instance, dare I say it again, Tiny Teddy’s tend to be located on the shelf at the eye level of a 4-7yo, BBQ shapes 6-10yo, gatorade tween and above etc.
Then there is the obvious exploitation of different times of the year. Take a look at these pictures sent to me by a Jasmine, a mum, who was horrified at how her local Woolworths supermarket had strategically placed and priced foods (loose term) which end up in lunchboxes right alongside where they had the stationery for school. A Coles store I was in had shelves and shelves of Arnotts Shapes right next door to the display for lunchboxes and drink bottles.
Rows and Rows of boxes of high energy, nutritionally poor foods stacked up front. You can imagine the impulse buys which happen as a result of this display, and worse, imagine the poor mum shopping with their children who see all of this.
And it doesn’t stop at large retail shops either. It’s even happening in smaller retail outlets. Check this one out that a mum sent us. She saw her towns local Facebook Page “Don’t feel like packing the lunchbox tomorrow? Come and grab one of our lunchbox packs” – $6 or $8. Here’s a picture of the lunchbox pack
Aside from the fact most of these items are from mulit packs (eg. 6 to a box), and they are probably not intended to be resold separately, there is no way this lunchbox pack would do anything to fuel a child’s body. The only thing it is likely to do is generate a crash and burn back in the classroom for the poor teacher to deal with. Just in case you were interested, this lunchpack contains about 13.5 teaspoons of sugar. I tried to actually count the number of ingredients in this lunchbox and when I reached 70, I just threw my hands up in disgust. Oh and this is without even considering what sort of bread this is and what is between the slices.
Food Industry Response
In a report conducted by ABC Lateline called Hooked on Bliss, which explores how food has been designed to get us to want to keep eating it. How food manufacturers have perfected the art of the right combination of sugar, salt and fat, and other ingredients, to get us hooked.
Lateline gave both the Australian Food and Grocery Council and the Australian Beverages Council an opportunity to respond to these claims. It’s not surprising that their response put the responsibility back on us, the consumer. Gary Dawson of The Australian Food and Grocery Council said this:
“Individuals make their own choices about the foods they consume. From the food industry’s point of view, there is a responsibility that the industry accepts to deliver products and information that enable consumers to construct healthy diets. And so, I would say on the supermarket shelves you do have more than enough choice to construct a healthy diet. It is, if you like, a mutual responsibility approach and the food industries, both in Australia and in the US and elsewhere, is accepting that responsibility.”
and Geoff Parker of the Australian Beverages Council said this:
“The industry would categorically refute the allegation that products are being made in some way addictive. That’s a sensationalist claim along the lines of a conspiracy type theory. What the industry does provide a range of kilojoule and taste options to meet every lifestyle or hydration occasion.”
I agree 100% that as consumers we have a choice about what we eat. BUT since our food culture has been manipulated by food and marketing science, with so much choice, is it any wonder we have lost our way?
Children and parents, in the face of this food and marketing science, we need to be empowered with knowledge about what goes into our food. We need to be strong and stand firm on what we’re going to accept goes into our food. And we need to be prepared to walk away from those foods which aren’t nourishing our bodies, no matter how great the advertising campaign is for them.
In terms of dietary guidelines, most processed packaged food are deemed to be discretionary foods. These foods do not form part of the five food groups on the food pyramid and they should be limited. The problem we face today, and certainly what we see as we travel from school to school, is that many school children are having at least 2 of these discretionary foods every day in their lunchbox. This is just their lunchbox. It is highly likely more of these discretionary foods are being consumed as snacks outside of school too.
All is not lost though, as parents we can take back charge. Here’s how:
5 Simple Things You Can Do
1. Eat more real food, minimise processed food
Simply just buy more food as close to its original source as possible. Fruit, veg, good quality meats, fish, dairy and grains if you’re eating these.
2. Read Your Packet Labels
If you want to eat packaged food, it’s ok but choose them consciously and wisely. Read the packet label and ask yourself, do I really want these ingredients in mine or my kids body’s? If no, put it back on the shelf and find a better alternative.
3. Remember always: We have this ONE body for LIFE.
This life is not a practice run. Like I say to kids, this is not a computer game where you get another life. This is it. We have this one body for life, and how long and healthy we live in it, depends on what we do with it every.single.day.
If you’re going to eat, make it count. Ask yourself: “Is this nourishing our bodies, or not?” If your kids ask you for something, get them to read the label. Then ask them whether they really want to put it in their body.
4. Buy only what you want the family to eat
This is a real simple rule. If you don’t want your family eating something, don’t allow it in the trolley and don’t buy it. If it’s not in the house, it can’t get eaten. Out of sight, out of mind. You get the picture.
But, it also needs to be sustainable. We don’t want to be so hard ball that our kids start sneaking food or not telling us they have had it outside of home. Eating mainly real foods and minimising processed is about a way of life, not a diet. This means focus on eating mainly real foods, and set your boundaries around packaged food. Identify a small set of processed food that you’ve consciously made the choice that you’ll allow in the house, and buy those.
5. Remember, where-ever you’re at is totally perfect
This is your journey and your family’s life. Remember, where-ever you’re at is totally perfect. We all have to start someone. Just start making one small change, make it a way of life, then when it’s a way of life, make another. Repeat this process. Be a stand and a role model for your family.
The best gift you can give your kids is their health. Empower them with the knowledge of real food, reading packet labels, and about how to cook from scratch.
These are important life skills which they will take on when they leave the nest. Then – importantly – they will take on these skills in their adult life and bring them to their own family – our grandkids.
And, together we can transform children’s health in Australia!
Sources and Other reading
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/obesity-in-children-causes
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/01/22/preschool-obesity-is-a-17-million-problem-in-australia-and-it/
http://nautil.us/issue/26/color/the-colors-we-eat
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/03/21/addictive-junk-food.aspx
https://www.nextnature.net/2013/02/how-food-scientists-engineer-the-bliss-point-in-junk-food/