Children today are eating more and more junk food and we are slowly getting into a diet crisis, so what are the facts?
The National Diet and Nutrition Survey found that:
92% of children consume more saturated fat than is recommended 86% consume too much sugar 72% consume too much salt 96% do not get enough fruit and vegetables. The Chief Medical Officer has compared the crisis in children’s diets to a health ‘time bomb’ which must be defused.
Children’s dietary health, in particular childhood obesity, is widely recognised as one of our most pressing public health problems. The recent Foresight Report on Obesity makes grave predictions for the future state of the nation’s health unless we act now. Without action, 55% of boys, and 70% of girls, could be overweight or obese by 2050 and obesity will cost the country £45 billion a year.
Above is shocking, but why are our children always choosing junk food?
Children are constantly bombarded with junk food marketing. £480m is spent each year advertising products high in fat, salt and sugar on television alone.
Junk food marketing contradicts all the messages about healthy eating children receive, undermining their ability to choose better food and their parents’ efforts to feed them healthily.
Research by the Food Standard’s Agency, and others, has shown that junk food advertising directly and indirectly influences children’s food preferences, purchasing behavior and consumption.
So what can we do to help stop this?
A series of surveys have demonstrated that the majority of parents are in favour of a protecting their children from junk food advertising. A recent British Heart Foundation survey found that 68% of parents were in favour of pre-9pm junk food advertising restrictions, with only 7% against.
Which? found in 2006 that 79% of parents believe unhealthy foods should not be advertised during the times children are most likely to be watching television.
Ofcom found in 2004 that 81% of parents and carers wanted some form of regulation of the advertising of junk food products, while just 11% wanted no change at all. 48% supported a ban on junk food advertising before 9pm (24 percent opposed); 57% supported a ban on junk food advertising during children’s airtime; 24% supported a total ban on junk food advertising.
译文:
孩子的饮食危机&垃圾食品
如今的孩子，垃圾食品吃得越来越多，我们已经逐渐进入了饮食危机，那么具体情况又怎样呢？
全国饮食营养调查发现：
92%的孩子摄入的饱和脂肪要高于身体所须水平
86%的孩子摄入的糖类过多
72%的孩子摄入盐过多
96%的孩子水果和蔬菜摄入不够
首席医学专家将孩子的饮食危机比作危害健康的“定时炸弹”，必须加以移除。
儿童的饮食健康，尤其是儿童肥胖问题，被广泛认为是我们当今社会最紧迫的健康问题之一。最近的《关于肥胖的前瞻报告》指出，除非我们立即采取措施，否则国民健康问题的前景不容乐观。要是不采取有力措施，会有55%的男孩，以及70%的女孩到2050时体重超标或则过于肥胖，而肥胖问题将每年耗费450亿英磅。
上面所提到的情况着实令人震惊，但为什么我们的孩子就是喜欢吃垃圾食品呢？
孩子们常常遭到垃圾食品市场的狂轰烂炸，每年厂商花4.8亿英磅在电视上为脂肪、盐和糖含量极高的垃圾食品做广告。
垃圾食品的营销方式和孩子们所知道的健康饮食习惯背道而驰，从而降低了他们选择更健康食物的辨别能力，而且也削弱了父母想要自己孩子饮食健康而做的努力。
食物标准机构和其他一些组织的研究显示，垃圾食品的广告都在直接或间接地影响孩子对食物的偏好，购买以及消耗。
那么我们应当如何遏止这种现象的滋长呢？
一系列的调查显示，大多数家长都希望自己的孩子可以免受垃圾食品广告的干扰。英国心脏基金会最近的调查显示，68%的家长赞成对每晚9点之前的垃圾广告进行限制，而只有7%的家长反对该提议。
2006年的调查显示，79%的家长认为,在孩子最有可能看电视时段,那些不健康食品广告应该禁止播放.
Ofcom（网站名）在2004的调查就显示，81%的家长和护理人员希望对垃圾食品的广告有所规范，而只有11%的人认为没有必要做任何改变。48%赞成在晚上9点前禁播任何垃圾食品的广告（而只有24%的人反对）；57%赞成在孩子看电视期间禁播垃圾食品广告；有24%的人则认为应当完全禁播垃圾食品广告。
支持抵制垃圾食品，有更多建议的请点击此处。