Obesity

With recent sociological phenomena having a knock-on effect on modern day society, it becomes a mindboggling maze. With food and drink franchises pushing through the market with their skilful marketing concepts too health concepts being creeped up on us.

The university of Birmingham (2017) states that the current obesity levels in the UK are the highest in Europe. This is supported by the NHS national statistics (2017) which show that in 2015/16 1 in 5 children at reception age are recorded as obese, as well as 1 in 3 at year 6 age. This number is astonishing to the level where it had to be reduced. Save our Standard Campaign and Chef Jamie Oliver soon jumped on the idea that children were not receiving good quality healthy food in which Jamie Oliver (2014) stated that school cooks are on the frontline in the fight against diet-related diseases. This then started the idea of how can we better the quality of school meals. The Department of Education (2015) devised a plan, with the intention of improving the quality and healthiness of a school meal. Gove. M (2014) states that the new food plan in schools make it more affordable and easy for the school kitchen staff to create the quality of food that children need. With the affordability on mind parents may struggle to afford for their child to eat school meals five days a week. However, Nick Clegg (2013) announced that every child in key stage 1 in a state funded school will receive free school meals. Then George Osborne (2015) put forward the process of stopping this funding, which was then refused by Parliament and Nick Gibb (2017).

To help families who are in the low bracket of income and receive certain benefits can apply for healthy start vouchers which enables them to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and milk. (Healthystart.nhs.uk, 2017). The NHS (Healthy Start Unit 2016) suggest that if children enjoy eating healthy foods young, then they will keep eating healthy for life. Watt, R, Draper et.al (2014) states “Children’s diets in the United Kingdom are known to be poor, particularly among socially disadvantaged groups…” which then links into a programme that was set up in 2009 until 2012 called ‘CHERRY’. The main aim of this programme (ucl 2017) was to highlight the issue with the health situation with families who had children aged between 18months and five years old. A study showed (ucl 2012) that parents and children who came to their sessions reduced their sugar intake by roughly 90ml per day.  As there are ways to help us buy and cook the right type of food, Miller, R et.al (2016) looked at the micronutrients that come into play within our diets. In which he states, “Poor dietary choices not only manifest in obesity… but can also lead to inadequate micronutrient intakes, with implications for health.” This is also looked into and accessed with children who become picky eaters, where Taylor, Caroline, M. et al (2016) states “intakes of zinc and iron were more likely to be below recommendations for picky eaters than for non-picky eaters”. Change4Life (2017) released an application that works on modern handheld technologies, which allows people to find out the levels of sugar, saturated fats and salt. This creates a fun effective way for us to actually see how healthy our current eating habits are. Change4Life (2009) states “it urges the public to ‘Eat well, move more and live longer’. In its first year,” Unless one considers healthy eating or has a mentor to help them gain an insight on what is healthy or unhealthy, the current population can become blinded into an unhealthy life style. Dr Harding, M. (2015) goes onto explain with the following statement, “It is thought that 5 out of 10 children who have one parent who is obese will become obese themselves.” Which in theory means that if we carry on the way we are then our children will see unhealthy eating as the normality of life.

Because the daily food intake is not the only reason behind obesity in children, the next logical reason to look for would be the current physical aspects that the school system provides. According to (Beaulieu, 2008) children aged 5 to 18 should partake in at least 60 minutes of physical education each day. As most of a child’s day is spent at school, half of this suggested time ought to be taken within this setting. However, Lounsbery (2017) suggests that with the pressure schools are facing with regards to academic achievement, it becomes near on impossible to achieve this. With the balance between academic and physical activity being weighted more to one side within modern day society, it becomes clearer as to why children are being less active. Active Living Research (2011) found that children were more inclined to take part within physical activity if the school had some decent quality equipment within the play area. With this idea schools receive PE and sport premiums to help maintain these area’s and to improve others. The amount the schools receive is depending on the number of students the school has. A school with 16 pupils or less is given £1000 per pupil, (Department for Education October 2017). This is then reviewed by Ofsted and online reporting. Ofsted look at the potential gain of pupils, whereas online reporting will state how and when the money was spent (Department for Education 2017). Under the recommendation from the swim group (School Swimming 2014) a new condition has been introduced for the academic year 2017/2018 in which pupils are expected to be able to swim at least 25 meters with ease using different stroke techniques. When given a statement about the core subjects in a school setting, Gibb, N. (Gov.uk, 2017) included the following “…and this is a conversation that should lie at the heart of any successful school”. Because there is much need for a student to achieve good grades in maths, English and other core subjects, it makes it harder for teachers to find the time for physical activity for the students.  Tassoni and Hucker (2005, p.262) put forwards that physical development is linked to children’s cognitive development. This is then lead into the idea that if a child increases their development of physical activity then they will function better within class and achieve better results. As schools are supplying healthy meals and providing equipment to promote a healthy active social aspect of children’s life, the question nevertheless remains on why the current rise of obesity within children is still rising. It is when we open the thought of the sociological thought process of a child’s mind and how the current advertising companies use it to their advantage. Coca cola spend over 4 billion dollars on advertisement which gives them a 15.4% revenue in share in north America (Statista reports 2014-2015). This sort of expenditure shows us the consumer the vast amount of resources they must have to make their promotion work. They will consider what is the current trend amongst children and what children enjoy doing, with this they will push their advertising towards that area. A British newspaper (Independent 2010) put a statement forwards saying, “McDonald’s and Burger King increased the number of TV adverts for children by 20 per cent … less than 1 per cent of kids’ meal combinations met nutritional standards.”. If they can increase their adverts by this amount, then a child will have a higher chance of seeing the advertisement. As technology becomes more popular companies like the fast food industry will have a greater way of reaching the audience it wants. (Handsley, E, Mehta, K, & Coveney, J 2014) Suggest that children under the age of 12 will not fully understand the concept of the advert that they are watching. Instead their research shows that the children believe that the advert wants what is best for them. This shows that they do not care about the health status of the current population, profit is the only forward thinking they see. Sheiam, Aubrey (an oral health perspective 2014) states “Food references within children’s magazines are biased towards unhealthy foods”. This is support by Chapman, K. J. (UK children’s magazines 2014) with the statement “Over a third (36.4%, 16/44) of magazines came with free sweets.”. Advertisement through televisions, online and children magazines having a big impact on the way our children see healthy eating. Gwynn, S. (2017) looked into the new ‘rules’ set out for advertisement and quotes “ads that directly or indirectly promote HFSS products cannot appear in media aimed at children under 16, or where children under 16 make up at least 25% of the audience.”. We know from Asa (2017) that HFSS are food products that are high in fats, salt and sugar. So, this will then hopefully reduce the amount of unhealthy foods that children become subjected too. However, Gwynn, S. (2017) then goes on later to say that “…is relaxing the rules around non-HFSS food and drink brands to allow them to use promotions…”. So, depending if non-HFSS food can also be unhealthy or not, it can still be advertised towards young children.

After looking at all the aspects of the research the conclusion it gives is clear that obesity is rising within children which can be because of several reasons. One example would be the way our children perceive food and drinks through advertisement and understand what is and not healthy for them. The government have plans set in motion to help combat obesity by introducing healthy foods into schools as well as offering incentives to parent to buy fruit and vegetables with the healthy start vouchers. When the outcome shows the balance being fairly even between the two, it is questionable as to what persuades our children to eat healthy or not. One way to answer that would-be parents, a child will look at their parents as a role model to them. If they see their parents eating or drinking something, then they will consider that they can do the same as it must be good for them. It is the primary care givers that set the example to these children. Obesity will keep rising until parents take an important part in understanding the health and physical activity of their child or children. It would be easier to blame the school systems or the advertisement our children see, however would it not be up to the primary care giver to teach the children what is right and wrong. With modern technology on our door steps, it becomes much harder to find the motivation to get up and perform physical activity with children. Therefore if as a society we want healthier children that interact and play, then us as a nation should encourage them by doing.

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