Monster Munchies

Dr Phulrenu Chauhan, consulting endocrinologist at Hinduja Hospital, points out to an alarming statistic, 8216;8216;One child in 10 is overweight and one in 15 is obese today.8217;8217; The changing dietary habits of children have caused a lot of concern among doctors. Dr Chauhan lists a number of sinful foods that have caused these ailments 8212; highly concentrated foods like burgers, fried chips, ice-cream and bottled beverages.

These fast foods or junk foods are high in sodium, fat and cholesterol, apart from calories, and are harmful for children, say doctors. According to Fast Food Facts, a report prepared by the Minnesota Attorney General8217;s Office, a quarter-pound burger contains 1,166 calories while four slices of mushroom pizza carry 1,000 calories. In his critically-acclaimed book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser is horrified that 8216;8216;hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day without giving it much thought, of the subtle and not so subtle ramifications of their purchases.8217;8217;

Renowned paediatrician Dr R K Anand, who is attached to Mumbai8217;s Jaslok Hospital, frequently visits schools as a guest speaker and is appalled by the increase of obese kids. 8216;8216;Obesity leads to other diseases like high blood pressure, joint pains, heart ailments, diabetes and hypertension,8217;8217; he warns.

Parents must share the blame for children8217;s poor health. By encouraging children to devour on pizzas and burgers all prepared in high-fat oil and heavy salts, parents are pushing them to several health hazards. 8216;8216;Most of the fast food stalls don8217;t even keep drinking water,8217;8217; says Dr Anand. 8216;8216;Instead, they serve fizzy drinks brimming with additives and preservatives. Advertisers are culprits too, luring gullible children through sleek packaging and smart marketing. We are losing our future generation to exploitative consumerism,8217;8217; chides Dr Anand, who also supports an NGO, Association for Consumers Action on Safety and Health ACASH.

Advertisers, however, justify their attempts to lure children with fast food. Says Rohit Chawla, Vice-President, Hindustan Thompson Associates, which handles the Pizza Hut ad campaign, 8216;8216;We don8217;t target children alone, we target parents too who have the purchasing power. We convince both segments. Also, pizzas are not junk food. If pizzas are junk food, then Americans can call our rotis junk food. We simply keep children8217;s likes and dislikes in mind while preparing ads for them.8217;8217;

Prof G G Wankhede, head of the Child and Youth Research at Tata Institute of Social Sciences TISS, refers to this new consumerism as 8216;8216;fast food culture.8217;8217; He explains, 8216;8216;Children from urban middleclass families are blindly following the West, be it food, fashion or language. Why look at health problems only? The social and moral consequences are equally lethal. Children from affluent families today spend most of their leisure hours playing videogames, surfing the net or watching television. Where8217;s the time to socialise with children of the neighbourhood? Is it surprising then that they have become selfish, self-centred and snobbish?8217;8217; he asks.

Proud parents who indulge their 10-year-olds8217; obsession with computers and video games should listen to the experts. Children who use computers for long hours are increasingly complaining of refractive errors and need glasses urgently. Dr Manoj Parulekar, ophthalmologist and head of the Children Eye Centre at Hinduja Hospital, blames it largely on the visual media. 8216;8216;One out of 15 children in India is short-sighted because of refractive error caused by constantly moving images on the screen. Videogames, television and the internet damage children8217;s eyes in different forms 8212; eye-strain, headaches, squints and short-sightedness,8217;8217; says Dr Parulekar.

Says Mumbai8217;s celebrated 8216;super mom8217; Shobhaa De, who has compiled letters to her six children in a book titled, Speedpost, 8216;8216;It8217;s a global phenomenon. Children are unhealthy, both physically and emotionally. Computers and television play surrogate parents. My children may not like it, but I am like a military general or Genghis Khan. Still, I am fighting a losing battle,8217;8217; she admits miserably.

Theatre celeb Boman Irani throws his hands up keeping his two sons Danish 17 and Kayoze 14 from fast food. 8216;8216;How can you put a tap on chocolates, junk food and television,8217;8217; he asks wearily. 8216;8216;As a kid, I had a fetish for bhelpuri. Today my kids like junk food. I indulge them, but in moderation,8217;8217; he says.

Nutritionists blame wayward eating habits on lifestyle compulsions. Dr Vijaya Venkat, founder of Health Awareness Centre, who also runs a popular health campaign in the city, says, 8216;8216;You feed children readymade, unhealthy food because you do not have the time to cook. Instead of natural and fresh nutrients, you stuff them with junk which takes its toll on their physical and mental well-being. You spurned natural food and now pay the price for being modern.8217;8217;

Dr Venkat prescribes fruits and snacks made from fruits for children. 8216;8216;Innovate snacks out of nuts and fresh fruits. Use root vegetables like potato, sweet potato and bread. Dry fruits are great appetisers. Introduce children to yoga. It will keep them in shape.8217;8217;

Agrees Binaifer Chhoga, principal of the Godrej-managed, Udayanchal Primary School at Vikhroli, who reiterates the urgent need for students8217; participation in outdoor activities. 8216;8216;Earlier there used to be sports, now we have catwalks on the campus. Today, children8217;s festivals feature toddlers who jive and jig at loud, disco music. Our children now look dull and lethargic. They don8217;t sleep enough. They don8217;t read enough. Where are the children of earlier days when they bubbled with boundless energy?8217;8217; she asks.

Exercise is crucial. It is now rare to see children walk or cycle to school, compared to the majority 20 years ago. To make it worse, many schools are to blame for adding to the problem by selling off playing fields, having no proper sports halls and doing too little to offer healthy lunches. According to reports in the British media on unhealthy diets among children, 8216;8216;The food industry must also take blame for aggressively marketing food high in fat and sugar at children. At an EU summit on obesity in Copenhagen, experts wanted governments to begin to treat the fast-food industry as they do tobacco companies, forcing them to put health warnings on high-fat food. They have also called for a ban on vending machines in all schools.8217;8217; These experts also call the aggressive marketing of fast food 8216;8216;a modern evil with the countless adverts on television and in magazines, and fast food chains on every street corner.8217;8217; Like tobacco advertising, food adverts should also be banned, they say.

Perhaps the time has come to ponder over your child8217;s health before you buy him or her that tantalising bar of chocolate.