Obesity in Children Today

Soda consumption stats

A typical 20-ounce soda contains 15 to 18 teaspoons of sugar and upwards of 240 calories. A 64-ounce fountain cola drink could have up to 700 calories. (5) People who drink this “liquid candy” do not feel as full as if they had eaten the same calories from solid food and do not compensate by eating less. (6)

One study found that for each additional 12-ounce soda children consumed each day, the odds of becoming obese increased by 60% during 1½ years of follow-up. (21)

Excersize

recommendation of at least 60 minutes of aerobic physical activity each day, as only 18% of students in grades 9—12 met this recommendation in 2007.6

However, in 2009 only 33% attended daily physical education classes

For many children, safe routes for walking or biking to school or play may not exist. Half of the children in the United States do not have a park, community center, and sidewalk in their neighborhood. Only 27 states have policies directing community-scale design.8

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First Lady Michelle Obama has begun nationally promoting her campaign to combat childhood obesity. And she says the media plays a major role in the problem.

I think research shows that there is a strong link between the impact of advertising, particularly food and drink advertising, on childrens food preferences, their food request, the request they make to their parents and the beliefs that they have regarding food. And all of these together have an influence on the prevalence of obesity in children today.

And in particular, most of these advertisements for food and drink were shown multiple times during the after-school hours, which is known to be a tactic that can increase the influence of advertisements on viewers

And then we need more companies to pledge not to market junk food, especially the entertainment companies like Disney and Nickelodeon that are airing these ads aimed at kids.