TWO OUT of three Cypriots will be obese by 2015. The startling prediction was made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in a report into the effects of marketing food and beverages towards children.
Compiled by the Research and Education Institute for Child Health (REICH), the report highlights the global obesity epidemic, and the importance of managing the problem from an early age.
In May 2009, the Association of Cancer Patients and Friends (PASYKAF) announced that childhood obesity in Cyprus is rising, with nine per cent of children aged five to 17 diagnosed as clinically obese. WHO findings suggest two to three per cent of the same age group is clinically obese.
It is widely agreed that a lack of exercise and poor diet are the main causes of obesity in children. However, the influences on children’s eating habits, and the best way to manage this, are less well understood.
REICH’s report is part of a wider European project among 11 member states to examine these influences, and in particular what factors influence children’s dietary choices. They interviewed 15 Cypriot stakeholders, all of whom had significant involvement in the issue of obesity in Cyprus.
The results of their research show a consensus among stakeholders that careful management of advertisements is necessary to tackle the problem.
Dr Savvas Savva, Head of the REICH project, said yesterday “With impressive consistency, all stakeholders declared that there is a link between advertising and marketing with childhood obesity.”
He added, “The marketing of unhealthy food is a factor shown by research to have an effect on children’s consumption patterns. What is impressive about this project is that all of the stakeholders agree with increased statutory control of such marketing.
“This was in contrast to findings in the UK for example. There, the views were deeply split.”
However, this is just one of the options for tackling the issue. The REF, which published a report earlier this year showing Cypriot children are the most inactive in Europe, will resume its scheme to get parents and children active this month.
The scheme was successfully piloted in Nicosia last year. The Agriculture and Education Ministries have also announced plans to deliver free fruit and vegetables to primary school pupils this school year as part of an EU-wide scheme to tackle obesity and promote healthy eating.
Further methods to tackle the issue were proposed in another report on child obesity, released this week in America. Dr Eduardo Sanchez, of the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council said that as well as television, video-games and after-school programmes should be limited, while school sports grounds should be opened to the public.
The WHO has estimated that a staggering one billion adults are currently overweight and 300 million are obese. Excess weight already kills over one in ten Europeans.
