While fast food is emerging as a diet culture, children are the worst hit with crippling illnesses and shortened lives due to this heavily marketed eating habit.
Junk food is taking an enormous toll on children around the world, with millions becoming obese and developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
According to World Obesity Federation, over 3.5 million children now have type 2 diabetes, which was once unknown in this age group and can lead to horrible complications in later life, such as amputations and blindness.
Experts predict that if the tendency continues, the UN target to stop the rise of childhood obesity by 2025 will not be accomplished.
The Sultanate of Oman is also no exception as far as the fast food culture is concerned, especially when it comes to meal boxes for children and food in school refectories.
According to data from the Global Nutrition Report 2016, although Oman has the lowest adult obesity rate in the GCC,
it has one of the highest
globally, ranking 168 out of 190 countries.
Croissant, chips, popcorn, sweet corn, chocolate and biscuits are some of the daily lunch meal for most children at schools.
Some parents do not think it’s important to limit unhealthy food, even though most of them know they should.
Fatima Ahmed is a 35-year-old working mother of three children — aged three, eight and 15. She admits that apart from giving fried and other ready made food lunch boxes to children, her family eats fast food three times a week from outside eateries.
“It’s not easy to go to the kitchen in the morning and prepare food. They always want chips, croissant or other sugary things,” Fatima says.
To this experts say that “Families and kids are busy, and they often want convenience as part of their choices.”
What Jasmine Bhatt, a housewife and mother of two children, says, “I pack children’s lunch boxes daily with some fruits and vegetables. Children need to have healthy food while studying”.
She is of the opinion that food offered at schools must meet standards so that children have healthy, balanced diets.
“Parents should make their wards adapt to eating healthy food,” she adds.
Dr Joseph, a paediatrician says, “Dependence on junk food affects children’s health. This leads to heart disease, obesity, headaches, acne, high blood pressure, dental problems and high cholesterol. Unhealthy diet also affects mental health”.
The fast foods work enormously fast in making people addicted to them. Even though our rational, conscious mind knows that they are bad for us, some other part of our brain seems to disagree, he adds.
Some schools are committed to providing healthy food to students and also teach them about the importance of nutrition and embracing a healthy active lifestyle.
A healthy eating pilot scheme is already on trial at a few government schools in the city.
SAMUEL KUTTY
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