We shield our children and young teenagers from many things: overt portrayals of sex and violence on TV and in movies, drinking alcohol, smoking, owning guns, and signing contracts, to name a few.
The reasons are sound: We hope to keep our youth from physical and psychological harm and to prevent them from falling into bad habits or taking actions with long-term consequences they may not fully understand.
We protect them so they can have the best possible future.
Yet we let them down in one vital area: a healthy relationship with food. We leave our youth alone and exposed in a brutal marketplace.
Failing to set our youth on a path to a healthy relationship with food is leading to significant health problems now—and promising shorter and sicker futures.
Since 1979, the number of Canadian children with obesity has tripled, with almost one in three children now overweight. Increases have been highest among youth aged 12 to 17.
Evidence shows that obesity rates are influenced by the amount of marketing kids are exposed to. It puts them at risk for many health problems, including heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
