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Most parents are guilty of popping their little one down in front of the television for a few minutes of harmless distraction to give Mum or Dad a few minutes to get something done or even to just grab a breath and regain a little sanity but at what point does television viewing by small children move from harmless to harmful?

There are the same benefits of TV for children as there are for adults – fun, education and relaxation but whereas adult make their own decisions regarding the amount of viewing and the impacts excessive viewing may have on their health, children have those decisions made for them. It is the responsibility of the caregiver to inform themselves of the long-term ramifications and make appropriate decisions and guidelines regarding television viewing by small children.

Recent studies have found that children as young as three years old are watching on average 90 minutes per day, can turn on the television by themselves and are accumulating over 9 hours a week. Did you know that almost every other type of activity, even reading a book, burns more calories than watching television? The long-term risks that this type of sedentary lifestyle brings to a child include:
• weight gain
• problems with learning social norms
• bringing about a prevalence of learning difficulties

A recent Deakin University study of 427 Australian children aged 3 – 5 found that less than 17% of their time awake was spent being physically active. The time spent on activity equated to 36 minutes of moderate-vigorous activity and 110-120 minutes of light-moderate activity during a 12 hour period. The results fly in the face of Australian guidelines that state children aged 1 – 5 should be physically active for at least three hours, over the day, every day. Researchers stated that ‘Physical activity is one of a number of factors that influence the healthy growth and development of children. The value of physical activity for young children is beyond doubt, and lack of adequate physical activity is viewed as a major contributing factor to overweight and obesity, which can track into adulthood and pose many other cardiovascular and health risks. Given that early childhood is a critical period of the establishment of eating and activity behaviour, prevention strategies to ensure that children develop healthy physical activity behaviour should start as early in life as possible’.

Australia is one of only two countries to set limits for sedentary activity – less than one hour of television viewing per day for those aged 2-5 and no television at all for children under two but it appears that the message just isn’t reaching parents. Yes, television viewing has its place but not as a routine activity, not for long periods of time, and not at the expense of more physical activity. While children too need relaxation and down-time they also need physical activity to become a healthy, fully functioning adult.
If you are going to allow your child to watch television you really should be vigilant with the channel or type of programing that they view. A study has found that children who are heavily exposed to unhealthy food advertising consume, on average, 40% more calories than children that view television that has no ads.

A recent study published in BMJ Open (02/06/12) demonstrated that infants tend to eat healthier and be a healthy weight as they get older. These researchers found that the toddlers allowed to feed themselves with finger foods from the start of weaning exhibited these traits.

According to the researchers, findings from the study indicate that baby led weaning may help prevent childhood obesity. Findings from the study were based on 155 children aged between 20 months and 6.5 years, whose parents completed a survey related to their children’s food preferences and weaning style.

The researchers found that 63 parents spoon-fed their children pureed foods throughout weaning while 92 parents allowed their children to feed themselves with finger foods (baby led group). Considerable differences in preferences for the foods included in the questionnaire were found in only one food group. The survey results showed that general carbohydrates were the favorite foods of these children that were self-fed, whereas the children that were spoon-fed preferred sweet foods. This was despite the fact that children in the spoon-fed group had also been offered purees that included carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables, proteins and whole meals.

They discovered that giving solid finger food to babies to help wean them off milk offer two benefits: one, these babies are more likely to develop healthier food choices; and two, they are less likely to become overweight children than are those who consume spoon-feed pureed food.
These findings were not associated with parental weight, socioeconomic factors or birth weight (Vlismas, 2009). All of these factors are likely to influence a child’s body mass index (CDC, 2011).

“Although numerous studies have focused on when to introduce solid foods into an infant’s diet, there is a dearth of evidence concerning the impact of different weaning methods on food preferences and health prospects (Brown & Lee, 2011),” explains Professor Ellen Townsend from the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, one of the authors of the study. “We believe our report is the first piece of research to examine whether weaning method can influence food preferences and the future health of the child.”

While no difference in picky eating was found between the baby-led and spoon-fed groups, the researchers discovered more underweight children in the baby-led group and increased obesity rates in the other group. These findings suggest that weaning style affects food preferences and health in early childhood. Based on the results, infants weaned through the baby-led method learn to regulate their food intake in a manner that results in a lower BMI (NHS, 2011) and a preference for healthy foods. According to the authors, finger foods improve a child’s awareness of textures. Prior studies (Birch, 1999) have demonstrated that presentation is an important factor in food preferences.

Channel 7 was reprimanded by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) after using a McDonalds’ playground as the backdrop to its logo during a children’s television program.

The ACMA made the decision that the station identifier was really an advertisement for McDonalds and breached the Children’s Television Standards 2009.

It’s strange that a company like McDonalds wasn’t consulted on such a material breach of the code by Channel 7 when it was creating the station identifier.

According to McDonalds’ own statement (from the THE RESPONSIBLE ADVERTISING AND MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS TO CHILDREN INITIATIVE), the fast food giant has: “voluntarily reduced our advertising during children’s television programs by 60 per cent.”

This is yet another example of why self-regulation doesn’t work. Only last November there was another breach by Nestle. The whole premise of stopping advertising during children’s programming is that kids can be easily influenced and lack the maturity to make informed decisions about their diet.

The Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing to Children, formulated by the advertising and broadcasting industry and key stakeholders in the food industry, aimed to preempt the possibility of legislation being introduced as recommended by the Preventative Health Taskforce.

Written by Andrew Talati

The child obesity rate in Australia is  disturbing. It currently stands at 25% of children being overweight or obese with a big contributing factor being the intake of too many processed foods.

According to the Australasian Society for the study of obesity conducted between 1985 and 1995, the overweight/obese rates for children almost tripled over a ten-year period.

There is overwhelming evidence to support that the latest generation will be the first generation that has a lower life expectancy than their parents. The most disturbing consequence of this alarming statistic is that this leads to psychosocial problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type II diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea. While the mechanics of this comes down to the simple equation of energy intake versus energy expenditure we can break the equation down into 4 main areas:

Energy Intake:
1.Genetic factors
2.Unhealthy eating habits
Energy Expenditure
3.lifestyle and environmental factors 4.Lack of physical activity

One overwhelming factor seems to be the high level of processed foods we are consuming as a society.

As we become more affluent and time poor we are turning to processed and take away food as an alternative to cooking at home.

While there may be a belief that it’s cheaper to buy processed/takeaway food, it’s a misconception. Buying the basics – fruit, vegetables and meat – is not only cheaper, your body will thank you for it, too.

Written by Andrew Talati

It’s great to see parents encouraging their children to develop healthy eating habits by growing their own fruit and vegetables.

While at a friends dinner party, we started talking about nutrition and the current crisis confronting our youngest generation with increased rates of childhood obesity and diabetes. At their local primary school, one of the parents created a blog that documented the transformation of their inner suburban backyard into a thriving vegetable patch.

The great thing about creating this awareness for children from a young age is not the quality time spent with their children but the association and connection between freshly grown produce through to the preparation and consumption of this yummy food.

Oscars Little garden

Oscar’s little garden shows no matter how small your backyard there is ample opportunities to help educate your kids in growing their own fruit and vegetables. With Oscars little garden, he could see the development of the vegetables; carrots, spinach, garlic and beetroot from a tiny seed to sprouting life.

Like any habit in life, the more senses that are touched and stimulated during a particular process leads to greater engagement and the creation of neurological pathways that are set for life. Just as we can develop poor eating habits from an early age we can also create lifelong healthy eating patterns that shape the way we think and appreciate food.

With Oscar, he was able to experience the many senses involved in the growing and harvesting of his fruit and vegetables from the feeling of the dirt in his hands, planting the seeds, the smell of the garden, the emotion felt of seeing the living plant growing, through to the taste and sight of the harvest.

A big advocate and pioneer in moving this concept to the school yard is Stephanie Alexander who has helped 180 schools with educating children about growing their own vegetables which has had wonderful results.

While modern life may be running at a crazy pace, this is great opportunity to take an active role in helping the children develop healthy eating habits for life.