Junk food puts kids in grave danger

Many Bay children are eating so much junk food it could shorten their life. Julia Holmes investigates our growing child obesity rates - but also talks to a family whose children are eating healthy.
Parents will outlive their children if they don't start to take responsibility for the Bay's growing child obesity problem, a dietitian has warned.
Julie Graves, who works in Tauranga Hospital's paediatric department, says an increasing number of children and young people are being referred to the hospital with weight problems.
"In America they are saying that parents may outlive their children because of the children coming up with obesity problems - they don't know their life expectancy.
"If we don't watch it, we will end up like that," Mrs Graves said.
While there were no figures available specifically for the Western Bay, she believed the problem here was in line with national statistics, which showed nearly a third of New Zealand children aged five to 14 years were overweight.
"We see a lot of children and teenagers who are overweight or obese. It's an area we are going to be seeing more of," she added.
As a result, the hospital was also starting to see type 2 diabetes in younger children.
She blamed a sedentary lifestyle where children were more inclined to watch television and play video games rather than spend time playing outside. A diet high in saturated fats and sugar was also to blame.
An increase in one-parent families was also having an impact, with working mothers or fathers often being too busy to prepare nutritious meals, opting instead for takeaways or convenience foods.
Children from broken homes were also likely to be given more "treat meals" when they went to visit the other parent.
"It's a big problem and it needs to be addressed sooner rather than later or it could lead to high cholesterol, heart disease and blood pressure problems. Parents and the community as a whole need to take responsibility," Mrs Graves said.
Often with obese children the aim was to maintain their weight so they could grow into it, rather than weight loss.
One of the biggest challenges was getting the whole family on board.
"Even with a lot of input it can be very difficult to manage. The problem with children is it involves the whole family making changes they don't want to face. Everyone has got to be prepared to make changes. It starts with food shopping right through to exercise. You need everyone on one side."
One approach was to limit the amount of time spent in front of a "screen", be it a television, computer or video game.
"Say, for every half hour they play outside, they can have half an hour on the computer," she suggested.
Dr John Gemming, Fifth Avenue GP and Western Bay PHO provider spokesman, said weight problems were often picked up when children visited the doctor for another ailment.
"The trend that family doctors are seeing is not people with eating disorders but over-nutrition. More and more people have difficulty with controlling their weight, particularly children," he said.
"They are eating too much of the wrong food, a high calorie-dense diet," he added.
Western Bay child psychologist Augustina Driessen believed a high divorce rate was a contributing factor to childhood obesity.
"Eating, it's always been said, is a symptom of what has gone on before," she said. "Because of children's parents separating, I see a lot of influence on the children regarding the parent not being available for them," she said.
"It's a fact that for many people food is a comfort. Once you get on the roller coaster you don't know how to get off it."
Children needed to be nurtured and regularly told that they were loved. Spending time with them was more precious than spoiling them with unhealthy foods, she said.
"Nothing is a treat anymore. Once a month is enough for a treat like takeaways. You can also have a treat like making a nice picnic, going to the park and playing with your children."