Greece, Italy, Spain and Cyprus stand out in Europe for the prevalence ofchildhood obesity. This is what emerges from the surveys ofOMS, whose nutritional policies – combination – in the meantime they are hindered by the indomitable food producer HFS extension (High Fats, Salt and Sodium) Ferrero. With the proud support of those who should instead promote the Mediterranean diet as opposed to junk food, such as Coldiretti and Adiconsum among the many acolytes.
the Senate of the Italian Republic it even came to approve by a very large majority a resolution, on 5.12.18. Not to protect the health of our children and grandchildren from the epidemic of childhood overweight and obesity – with all the illnesses and discomforts that will follow – but to delegate the government to fight the traffic lights on the label. Shame!
WHO, report on childhood obesity in Europe
Il COSI monitoring plan (European Child Obesity Surveillance Initiative) was presented by dr. Joao Breda, WHO Europe Head for the Prevention of Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDss, No Ccommunicable Diseases) – at the last European congress on obesity, at the end of May in Vienna.
The surveys performed out of 250.000 children in 38 countries of the old continent attest to the primacy di Cyprus, with 43% of overweight children and obese (with obesity since 30% of cases). A follow Greece, Italy and Spain. Only Portugal is missing to attribute the acronym PIGS to the anthropometric data of youth rather than to the economy of these countries. And unfortunately they too will affect national economies, given that already 30% of public health expenditure is absorbed by diseases linked to unbalanced diets and unhealthy lifestyles.
The Mediterranean diet has been stifled in his old cradle, with junk food. Thus, in this upside-down Europe, Sweden is now the country with the youth in the best shape. While in Italy the 42% of children men is ‘Overweight’ and of these half – the 21% of the total, a tie with Cyprus – is obese (for females, 38% of overweight including obesity expressing the14% on the total). A tragic scenario, from Brenner downwards, as confirmed in ‘Helpcode Italy’ report at the Gaslini Institute in Genoa.
France – where the dark-robed troops of Ferrero’s lobbyists don’t work – it is instead committed to the nutritional front with such seriousness to be on the opposite side to ours, in the ranking of WHO Europe on overweight and childhood obesity (with an incidence that varies between 5 and 9%).
Childhood obesity and overweight, a life sentence for Italian children
Fat is not beautiful, nor happy. The Italian children they are condemned, due to a bad diet, to a greater occurrence of chronic and serious diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and in fact spreads like a viral disease. And there is no vaccine, only prevention.
Already in childhood obesity induces suffering nethe organs vital and is associated with a number of health problems including sleep, respiratory, gastrointestinal, endocrine, cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders. The damage to the body is not temporary andobesity arising in developmental age it tends to worsen in adulthood, with reduced life expectancy.
Chronic non-communicable diseases they are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors. Among them, overweight e obesity representyear a factor risk and affect disease severity. Referring to apcardiovascular atologies, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disorders. The qfour diseases responsible for great ofpremature deaths, 35 million every year, 60% of deaths globally.
Childhood obesity in Italy, the necessary actions
La Mediterranean diet – as observed last century by Ancel Keys and Margaret Haney – it is not a mere list of healthy foods né the calculated combination of the same. It’s a code of conduct and of civilizationà, a paradigm of existence. the ancients Greek morning it meant in fact ‘rule of life’. Vegetables, extra virgin olive oil, fruit, cereals e legumes, panimal wheels in the right measure. With attention to the quality, genuineness and freshness of raw materials. And to the balance between the energy taken in and that consumed thanks to physical exercise, which is equally fundamental.
Precisely the countries that are emblematic of the Mediterranean diet – Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Portugal, according to the Unesco recognition as assetso immaterialand humanity – however, they are those who have lost sight of the model of life. For cultural deficit, external influences (advertising, even hidden) e inability to spend, the peoples of the Mediterraneo are poisoning their children with junk food.
Junk food, HFS extension (High Fats, Sugars and Sodium), i.e. ultra-processed foods with nutritional profiles deteriorating and unbalanced, they must be reformulated so as to inhibit its harmful effects. Drastic measures must be taken, such as:
The goals di these measures, please note, è force the manufacturers of junk food to change recipes. By drastically reducing sugar, fat saturated and salt in ultra-processed foods. As has already happened in the Villages who have applied them, following the WHO recommendations (World Health Organization, OMS). An example above all, the sugar in carbonated soft drinks, halved in the UK compared to Italy.
And the alleged attack on theorem is false Made in Italy:, since public health measures aimed at protecting the health of minors can especially be targeted – as is being done in France – only at ultra-processed foods. Foods like bnon-alcoholic drinks, packaged snacks and sweets, industrial bread, mechanically separated meat (e.g. würstel), In addition to instant soups, ready meals, cakes and pizzas industrial. Which:
– they have nothing to do with Italian production and gastronomic traditions,
– can be reformulated with simplicity. Especially in Italy, where the food technology it is at the forefront and has given excellent proof of it in palm oil replacement with oils free of saturated fats and dangerous contaminants.
– ‘ultra-processd foods’ they differ in fact due to the presence of food additives and substances rarely used in cooking. Whether they are directly extracted from foods (e.g. casein, lactose, whey and gluten), or derived from further treatments (e.g. hydrogenated oils, hydrolyzed proteins, maltodextrins, invert sugar, high fructose corn syrup).
The evolution of the recipes of these products – that effective health and stringent policies measures must induce – will allow indeed the Made in Italy: to establish itself even better on international markets. Because the need for healthy foods is as current as it is shared globally. And the most advanced companies are already capitalizing on this by offering food where the goodnessà is paired with with balanced nutritional profiles e clean labels.
Dario Dongo and Giulia Baldelli
Footnotes
(1) See Food classification, public health. NOVA, the star shines bright, up World Nutrition, Volume 7, Number 1-3, January-March 2016.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE – GIFT – Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in nutritional chemistry and pharmaceutical technologies, expert in quality management systems, social responsibility and supply chain