HEALTH: Report says too many children in Ontario have poor eating habits, don't get enough excercise

Making parents feel guilty about their children's eating and exercise habits isn't likely to produce healthier kids, a Queen's University researcher says.

A report by the Heart and Stroke Foundation recently released says too many of Ontario's children have poor eating habits and don't get enough exercise, but Dr. Elaine Power is concerned that reports like this one focus too heavily on the role of parents and not enough on societal factors, such as poverty, the role of schools and food marketing.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation study asked 1,189 Ontario parents of children between six and 12 years of age about their children's diet and exercise habits. The study concluded that many of the province's children are living an unhealthy childhood due to a lack of physical activity and poor eating habits.

The study found, for example, that only one in eight Ontario children (13%) eats the recommended five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day. It found that 24%ate junk food three or more times a week.

It compared the findings to a 1998 national survey and concluded that there had been little improvement in children's eating habits since then, and even some regression.

"The report should serve as a wakeup call that the health of our children is not making the grade," said Dr. Andrew Pipe, a Queen's grad and spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

The report warns that this generation of children will live shorter lives than their parents because they have a higher risk of developing such life-threatening illnesses as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

A major problem is poverty, she says. Power notes that the Heart and Stroke Foundation study did a good job of pointing out that some children don't eat healthy foods because their parents can't afford them.

"Fruit and vegetables are often the first things to go," she says, "If you're looking to keep your kid from getting hungry, lettuce really doesn't cut it. Fruit and vegetables don't fill people up in the way that bread and potatoes and starches do."

If Ontarians want their children to be more healthy, the focus should be not on parents, but on what society can do to bring this about, says Power. "How, as a society, can we do a better job of producing healthier, happier kids in the future?"

"The problem is, that would cost money and some people would object on that basis. You're talking about raising taxes."

Whole Story http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1766727

For more stories go to http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/

Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Email welfarelegal2004(at)hotmail(dot)com welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Blog http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/