Bangalore: With the ban on soft drinks in schools and colleges coming into effect on Monday and with junk food also coming under the Government scanner, the focus has turned towards children's health and their eating habits.

Wrong food habits, among other things, have been attributed as one of the main causes for childhood obesity, according to nutritionists and child specialists.

The World Health Report of the World Health Organisation (WHO) lists overweight as the fifth most serious risk factor for both developed and developing countries.

According to statistics from urban areas in South India, 21.4 per cent of boys and 18.5 per cent of girls aged between 13 and 18 are either overweight or obese.

Moreover, 80 per cent of overweight children in the 10 to 14 age group were at risk of becoming overweight adults.

Steady increase

"There is a steady increase in the number of children who are obese. We often see five and six-year-old children who are three times their ideal body weight. Eating foods with high fat and sugar content, especially between meals, contributes significantly to children putting on weight. Lack of exercise among children these days and sitting for hours in front of television is also a reason for children becoming overweight," says Nandini Mundkur, consultant paediatrician and director for the Centre for Child Development and Disabilities.

Ill-informed parents and constant marketing of junk food through the media were to blame for the rise in child obesity.

"Good eating habits have to be inculcated from the time a child is weaned from the mother's milk by including nutritious homemade food that are high in fibre in their daily diet," she says.

According to her, apart from being lethargic, such children have low self-esteem and may also suffer from depression.

The risk of getting hypertension, diabetes and heart problems among obese children, when they become adults, is also high.

"Most of the nibbling that happens today is on pre-packaged snack foods, which are high in calories and salt and low in nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. The popularity of these fattening treats may be one of the factors responsible for the country's childhood-obesity epidemic. Also, high calorie-low nutrient diet will eventually decrease the growth potential, physical and mental work capacity and immunity in most children," says Madhavi Bhatt-Trivedi, nutritionist.

So, should children not take snacks between meals? "It is not bad. But the content of your child's snacks is what is important — they should be given healthier snack options," she says.

These may be fruits and dry fruits, whole grain cereals, vegetables such as cucumber, carrot, capsicum, red/yellow peppers, celery sticks, tomatoes, boiled baby corn, steamed corn /broccoli/cauliflower with dips or sprinkled with herbs, whole grain bread, chapatis, fruit juices and plenty of water.

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