Low Obesity Rates for Children

There are some children whose parents feel as though they should not be allowed to watch television, use computers or play any type of video games. Sometimes the parents may allow their children to watch educational movies but even at that point, they will usually watch over the movie beforehand to make sure that it is suitable for their child. On the other hand, there are some people who may feel as though these actions are overly protective and excessive. However, at this point in time, there are a lot of people who are starting to realize the general purpose of making such strict rules on preventing children from viewing certain kinds of material, especially with the increase of media exposure that has been aimed towards children specifically. For example, a recent study from the University of British Columbia showed that children who did not see fast food advertisements were less likely to suffer from obesity.

In the area of Quebec, there has been a ban on fast food advertising to children for over three decades. And, while the ban has been ongoing, results show that about 3 billion fewer calories had been consumed by children in the area over the span of those years. This was good news, especially during a time in which child obesity is on the rise. Other areas of Canada, aside from Quebec, are dealing with similar issues as the United States when it comes to obesity in young children. While other areas in Canada do not have the ban like Quebec does, it is true that Quebec has the lowest youth obesity rate out of all the areas in Canada.

The fact of the matter is that in the United States, there are tons of advertisements aimed toward children and many of them are displaying food items that are not the healthiest. Even though cereal brands have gone as far as to cut back on the amount of sugar used in cereals, many of the cereals are still not nearly as healthy as they should be and also often contain too much sugar for the children who are consuming them. Children between the ages of 6 and 11 saw nearly 700 advertisements for sugary cereals within the span of a year, especially as the cereal companies spend millions on their advertisement campaigns, most of which are aimed toward children. These companies that are pushing children to eat unhealthy food are culprits at contributing to the higher obesity rate amongst children in the United States.

In order to avoid this problem, parents need to take charge and watch what they are feeding their children. There are healthier alternatives to all types of different foods, even cereals, and it is important that the parents spend time checking out the ingredients and nutrition facts to find out what is and isn’t so healthy.