Surroundings
contribute to teen obesity
By Nanci Hellmich
USA Today
9/24/07
Many teens seem doomed to become too heavy by the
reality of their environment.
That's the conclusion reached by research out today. It
also says teens in lower-income families are exposed to
more fast food, junk food and other toxic environmental
influences than those in higher income brackets.
Obesity experts have been saying for years that children
are getting heavier because portions are huge; junk foods
and fast foods are everywhere; and exercise has taken a
back seat, replaced by sedentary pursuits such as computer
games and watching TV.
Several new studies by researchers at the University of
Illinois-Chicago and the University of Michigan examined
teenagers' surroundings, and their findings confirm
earlier research. Among the conclusions in a special
supplement of the American Journalof Preventive Medicine:
•Many middle schools and high schools offer a lot more
unhealthful foods and beverages than nutritious foods.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Food companies | Surroundings
•Students are less likely to participate in physical
education classes as they get older. Principals estimate
90% of eighth-graders take P.E. compared with 34% of
12th-graders. (Gym class is often mandatory in middle
school but an elective in the upper grades.)
•Food products account for 26% of TV ads seen by children
ages 12-17. The majority of those ads are for fast food,
sweets and beverages. Virtually all the products are high
in fat, added sugars or sodium. African-American young
people, who statistics show watch more daytime TV, see
more of these ads than white teens do.
•Teens are more likely to be overweight if they live near
convenience stores and are less likely to be overweight if
they live near supermarkets that offer a wide variety of
healthful foods.
•A higher percentage of restaurants in lower-income
neighborhoods and high-minority urban communities serve
fast foods than in higher-income neighborhoods.
"Kids and their parents are fighting against an
environment that makes it almost impossible to eat
healthfully, engage in physical activity and maintain a
healthy weight," says Frank Chaloupka, professor of
economics and public health at the University of Illinois.
Among the environmental changes he and his colleagues
recommend:
•Businesses must put supermarkets in "food 'deserts' in
inner cities so people have access to healthful choices,"
Chaloupka says.
•Food companies must live up to the commitments they have
made to stop marketing unhealthful foods to children.
•Schools must create more opportunities for physical
activity and limit offerings of unhealthful foods and
beverages. "There are moves in this direction, but we
haven't seen the payoff yet," he says.
Meanwhile, parents can make a difference, says social
psychologist Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan.
"Clearly parents are role models for kids," Johnston says.
"In recent years, we've had a decline in young people
eating fruits and green vegetables, an increase in the
proportion of them not eating breakfast on a regular
basis, and the problem of many of them not getting enough
sleep."