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It has been Olympic Week here in Lausanne where all the local sports clubs set up stands in and around the Olympic Museum to introduce new sports to young people. The event has been going on, I think, for nearly thirty years now and coincides each year with the school\u2019s half-term holidays. Nearly forty clubs\/sports are represented, and nearly seven thousand children took part, in the week.<\/p>\n
I took Monday\u00a0and Thursday off from whatever else I had to do, and helped man the rowing club\u2019s stand. We had borrowed six rowing machines from the club and set up a system where we first showed the kids to use the machines correctly\u2014or at least without hurting themselves, and\u00a0 then let them \u201crace\u201d themselves or their friends over five hundred metres.<\/p>\n
On each of the two\u00a0days, we introduced nearly three hundred kids, aged between eight and fourteen, to the sport. They had a great time, as indeed did I. It was wonderful to see them all so enthusiastic\u2014and competitive.<\/p>\n
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Out of the three hundred or so kids that passed through the stand\u00a0each day, there were perhaps three, or maybe four, who were over-weight. Certainly none were obese. I say that because this week the world \u201ccelebrated\u201d\u00a0World Obesity Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n The day coincided with a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0issued by Imperial College London and the World Health Organisation which showed that childhood obesity rates in the world\u2019s children and adolescents increased from less than 1 percent (equivalent to five million girls and six million boys) in 1975 to nearly 6 percent in girls (50 million) and nearly 8 percent in boys (74 million) in 2016. Combined, the number of obese five to nineteen year olds rose more than tenfold globally, from 11 million in 1975 to 124 million in 2016.<\/p>\n The lead author of the report, Professor Majid Ezzati, of Imperial\u2019s School of Public Health, said, “These worrying trends reflect the impact of food marketing and policies across the globe, with healthy nutritious foods too expensive for poor families and communities. The trend predicts a generation of children and adolescents growing up obese and at greater risk of diseases, like diabetes. We need ways to make healthy, nutritious food more available at home and school, especially in poor families and communities, and regulations and taxes to protect children from unhealthy foods.”<\/p>\n Dr Fiona Bull, from the WHO, took a more nuanced stance, saying, \u201ccountries should aim particularly to reduce consumption of cheap, ultra-processed, calorie dense, nutrient poor foods.\u201d However, she added, \u201cthey should also reduce the time children spend on screen-based and sedentary leisure activities by promoting greater participation in physical activity through active recreation and sports.\u201d<\/p>\n This is not the first time that the WHO has\u00a0called for measures to promote active lifestyles.<\/a>\u00a0They write on their website, \u201cthe fundamental cause of childhood overweight and obesity is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended. Global increases in childhood overweight and obesity are attributable to a number of factors including:<\/p>\n Back in 2014, the\u00a0Institute of Economic Affairs<\/a>\u00a0drew attention to the energy expenditure side of the equation, writing\u00a0that, \u2018Only 18 per cent of adults report doing any moderate or vigorous physical activity at work while 63 per cent never climb stairs at work and 40 per cent spend no time walking at work. Outside of work, 63 per cent report spending less than ten minutes a day walking and 53 per cent do no sports or exercise whatsoever.\u2019<\/p>\n Last week also saw the\u00a0controversy continue over sugar taxes, with Chicago abandoning theirs, and arguments in the press both\u00a0for<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0against<\/a>. It is an emotive issue but while everyone argues about the food intake side, let’s not forget the energy expenditure side of the equation.<\/p>\n So this weekend,\u00a0turn off your screens, go outside, and take your kids with you.<\/p>\n It has been Olympic Week here in Lausanne where all the local sports clubs set up stands in and around the Olympic Museum to introduce new sports to young people. The event has been going on, I think, for nearly thirty years now and coincides each year with the school\u2019s half-term holidays. Nearly forty clubs\/sports … <\/p>\n\n
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