Kids bear the brunt of fast food life

New Delhi: Changing lifestyles has certainly taken a toll on people's health but children are not far behind as they too are now bearing the brunt of fast food life.

Burger, pizzas, ready to eat noodles, Coke, french fries - if this is what figures in your child's daily diet there is reason to worry.

A recent study on a sample group of school children by Delhi's Indraprastha Apollo Hospital found 23 per cent of the children obese.

The study conducted in a sample size of 1000 students between seven-eleven years of age and from public schools also found 17 per cent of these children hypertensive and prone to diabetes and cardiac problems.

Says Apollo's Dr R N Srivastava, "There are other problems like joint problems and problems of locomotion etc. These are not obvious now but will come up later in life."

Infact an earlier study done at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences between 2002 and 2004 on school children had found a rise in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, which till now was considered a disease of the 40-plus age group.

Says Dr Anoop Misra HOD Diabetes department, AIIMS, "The problem is increasing rapidly over a period of time - especially over the last five years or so. Now it's reaching a proportion that it should be of concern to all of us and to all policy makers as well."

Doctors blame the growing sedentary lifestyle among children as a main cause of concern as also their dietary pattern which includes pre-packaged fatty foods.

Experts advice that if adults themselves don't give up on fast-food and quick fix meals there's only a slim chance that children may follow a healthy nutrtive diet pattern.

Also motivating children to go out and play or excercise will have no impact if parents themselves are couch potatoes.

"A child's environment has to be altered. All persons surrounding the child - parents, teachers and siblings - should know what is healthy for the child," says Dr Anoop Mishra.

And it's not just your child's health that obesity can effect. It can also have an effect on your child's behaviour.

Children have shown that they have become more conscious of their body image. Obesity is a disease that might make children withdraw from the outside world.