Grocery Stores Central in Childhood Obesity

We recently read an article based on an initiative to make Philadelphia supermarkets healthier, in an attempt to reverse childhood obesity.

Obesity rates have more than quadrupled for children ages 6 to 11 and more than tripled for adolescents ages 12 to 19 in the past 40 years. Rates are more significant in the lower-income, multi-ethnic communities and neighborhoods - usually located in food deserts (areas with no easy access to healthy affordable food).

"If we don't reverse the epidemic, the current generation of young people could be the first generation in U.S. history to live sicker and die younger than their parents' generation," says the Philadelphia proposal.

Because full-service supermarkets and grocery stores offer large varieties of healthier foods compared with convenience stores, there is growing evidence that people who live more than a mile from a full-service grocery store are less likely to consume a healthy diet and more likely to be obese.

Almost 60% of shoppers say they spend most of their food-budget money in full-service grocery stores and over 90% of shoppers from households with children say they have shopped in a grocery store in the past 3 months (half the time accompanied by their children).

Supermarkets also help protect adolescents from becoming overweight. Additionally, there is a direct correlation between the presence of convenience stores and being overweight.

Conclusion: Grocery stores are "center stage" for combating and preventing childhood obesity.

Change Supermarket Design
Although, as mentioned above, there are advantages to having easy access to grocery stores, some experts believe they need to be rearranged. After all, remember that supermarkets are designed to sell inventory as fast, and in as large quantities as possible. They actually have ways of luring you into buying much more than what you've put on your shopping list - what you had planned.

Here are a few of the proposed changes for supermarkets:
The initiative proposes things like moving sodas and chips from the end of isles (highly visible and very easy to access) and removing sugary cereals from the bottom shelves where little kids can most easily see and grab them. Another proposed change is to place healthy and unhealthy items next to each other.

Why are these Changes Needed?
The following is a very powerful statement taken directly from the article:
"Self-checkout doesn't have the gauntlet of candy bars. Some industry consultants calculated that an average American woman could lose four pounds a year just going through self-checkout."

This is proof that people are lured into buying and consuming items they did not intend to buy. One of the references used for our "Scientific Reasoning Behind Drinking Diet Soda" says that certain foods are as addictive as some illegal drugs.

We agree that placing addictive items at arms' reach of kids, and enticing buyers is a huge factor in the current obesity trend seen across the world (not just the US). Changing displays and updating item locations can be a huge aid. It will be interesting to see how far this initiative gets... All of these changes affect the stores' bottom line.

We invite you to read the following two articles. They expose manufacturers and their use of food labels to make their products look healthier than they really are:

Subliminal Messages in Food Labels
Subliminal Messages in Food Labels II

Article:
[Good.is]: Check Yourself Out! The Science of Supermarket Design

Download initiative (PDF - 29 pages)

Some Obese Kids in Mexico Now Face Health Risks

Schools in Xalapa Mexico reported that 60% of children were overweight or obese. This prompted researchers from the state's university to conduct a study with children young enough to be in elementary school.

In their study, they found that 11 and 12 year olds showed early signs of risks associated with metabolic syndrome. The researchers established that as a child's age increases, so do problems related to weight and obesity, meaning that preschoolers have a less overweight rate but this changes when they get to elementary schools and junior high school.

The researchers noticed that bagged lunches may be the explanation. Kindergardeners are more likely to take prepared foods to school while older children are more likely to purchase food at schools. Almost no one takes a lunch to school in junior high school.

Another issue that researchers noticed is that activity decreases as kids age. Older kids tend to play less outside and their games or forms of entertainment are rarely related with exercise. They normally resort to video games.

Proposed Solution
The researchers suggest that a solution requires help from different sources. The first and key source is the parents. Parents need to know and must control what their kids are eating. They insist that parents prepare lunches at home. In general, kids do not worry about nutrition. This is why they should seldom be given money that will be spent on food items.

When interviewed, children said they purchased potato chips, french fries, pastries, peanuts, and sodas (among other types of junk food). Some parents prepare a lunch but also give their kids money so they can purchase additional items. In one case a child expressed that his mom made him a sandwich every day but that his father gave him money as well. He buys a Coke and a bag of flavored chips. “This is exactly what I eat everyday during recess.”

According to the researchers, these actions have led to the current overweight/obesity problem.

When was the last time you prepared a healthy lunch for your kids? When was the last time you asked (and knew they weren't lying) what your kids ate during lunch?

Link to Article:
[Diario Xalapa]: Llega a niños riesgo a la salud por obesidad