Many of the TV commercials seen by teenagers is for junk food products. According to research released by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, this may be a reason obesity rates continue to rise among 12-17 year olds.
Other researchers have found that 26% of TV ads seen by teens were for food products. The vast majority of these products contain high amounts of fat, sugar and sodium.
The groups mostly impacted by junk food ads are low income and minority teens. Since a higher percentage of fast food restaurants are in urban communities, it is obvious why teens in these areas are experiencing skyrocketing obese rates.
Since poorer and nonwhite neighborhoods also have fewer fruit and vegetable markets, bakeries, specialty stores and natural food stores, this is another reason for a high obese situation.
There are also problems in schools where teens have few healthy food choices. It's known that many middle schools and high schools offer more unhealthy foods than nutritious foods.
Many people believe schools carry a substantial burden of responsibility as well as parents in addressing childhood obesity.
The National School lunch Program serves twenty-nine million school children every day and costs American taxpayers more than 7 billion to provide "nutritionally balanced" meals.
But what happens is many students fill up on items such as soft drinks, chips and cookies which are high added sugars, fat, calories and sodium, but low in nutrition.
Such "junk foods" sold in vending machines and school stores are known as "competitive foods" because they compete with federally funded meals.
Healthy People 2010 is an organization that promotes good health practices. They are calling for schools to contribute to overall diets that meet federal dietary guidelines in the meals and snacks they serve in school lunchrooms.
Sales in schools of foods and drinks are high in calories and low in nutrients undermines this health objective. Competitive foods also undermine nutrition information taught in the classroom.
Lucrative contracts between school districts and soft drink companies for exclusive rights to sell one brand are the latest development in the increasing commercialization of school food.
These contracts, intended to elicit brand loyalty among young children who have a lifetime of purchases ahead of them are especially questionable because they place schools in the position of "pushing" soft drink consumption.
"Pouring rights" contracts deserve attention from public health professionals concerned about the nutritional quality of children's diets.
As of March 2007, federal efforts to establish consistent nationwide nutrition standards for all competitive foods and beverages sold in schools was embodied in the Child Nutritional Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2007.
First introduced in both houses in May 2006, the bill was reintroduced in the 110th Congress and has continued to enjoy bipartisan support from numerous co-sponsors.
In May 2006, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of health and Human Services released a report recommending concrete steps that the industry can take to change their marketing and other practices to make progress against childhood obesity.
Among the agencies recommendations are that food companies:
* Intensify their efforts to create new products and reformulate existing products to make them lower in calories, more nutritious, more appealing to children, and more convenient to prepare and eat.
* Review and revise their marketing practices with the goal of improving the overall nutritional profile of the products they market and sell in schools.
In 1983, food marketers spent $100 million on television advertising to kids. Today they pour roughly 150 times that amount into a variety of mediums that seek to infiltrate every corner of the children's worlds.
The average American child today is exposed to an estimated 40,000 television commercials a year - over 100 per day. Since 1980 childhood obesity rates have tripled among adolescents.
Parents must take more responsibility today than ever to monitor their children's health and diets. Look in the grocery carts of parents and you'll see which ones are taking that responsibility seriously and which ones are not.
To your good health,
Sonny Julius
Sonnyj@TheSunnySenior.com
http://www.FreeEbook.homestead.com
