by Marion Nestle
Mar 31 2014

New book: Childhood Obesity

Kristin Voigt, Stuart G. Nicholls, Garrath Williams.  Childhood Obesity: Ethical and Policy Issues.  Oxford University Press, 2014.

 

 

I gave this one a blurb:

A well-researched, highly critical, but carefully balanced examination of everyday assumptions about childhood obesity and its prevention from an intensely moral perspective.  Although the authors demonstrate that no intervention is without ethical complications or effective entirely on its own, they call for immediate actions to reduce the stigma of childhood obesity, support parents, and create food environments healthier for children, adults, and the environment.    

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  • Liz

    I really want to read this! I work as a kindergaten enrichment teacher and the chocolate milk they serve the kids has 22 grams of sugar in it! I cringe when the kids order it! The last thing a 5-6 year old needs is sugar!

  • Childhood obesity is a tricky topic. My complicated relationship with food (that lasted from when I was 13 to 23 years old) began when someone close to me told me I’d gained weight over the summer. (I used to run a lot each day during the school year and had spent 6 weeks in the back of a station wagon on a summer car trip, eating hamburgers for lunch).

    Had I just returned to my non-summer routine of being on the cross country team at school and eating my regular packed lunch, I would have returned to my pre-summer weight pretty quickly. But instead I threw myself into dieting by collecting every rule, tip and trick I could come across. In the end I gained more weight and tons of bad habits.

    My niece had a similar experience last year except the weight comment rolled off her and she didn’t think of it again. Since then she’s grown 3 inches and returned to a healthy weight.

    While neither of us were obese I can now see as an adult what a delicate topic weight loss is with young people and how we need to focus on slowly modifying kid’s unhealthy habits rather than focusing on their extra weight.

  • Anna Bordignon

    Childhood obesity is a worldwide problem and one that must be owned by parents and the legislators. Over at http://www.munchcooking.com we are trying to do our bit and part of that is we run an annual Food awards http://www.munchawards.co.nz which parents vote on best and worst kids food. The most interesting section is the deceptive marketing section. A big part of what we are trying to do is link public sector with the homegrown private sector. Anyhow we should all take a role in this. Anna Bordignon

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