[DeusXM]

so why is it still getting worse do you really believe that parents are not interested in their childrens' health

I never said that. I explained this quite clearly. We live in a culture where people are, for the most part, affluent. More kids than ever before have access to the internet, children's TV channels and games consoles. At the same time, our society has never been more afraid of allowing kids to go outside. Then there's also the decline in social pressure - put bluntly, most people don't see 'fat' kids anymore because they're all fat.

I don't envy any parent. We're at a stage where high-calorie food is freely available, sedentary forms of entertainment are highly accessible, outdoor physical activity is increasingly limited and there's no reliable benchmark out there. It's not that parents 'don't care', it's simply that they're subject to far more pressures than ever before.

At the risk of sounding alarmingly sexist, you could theoretically make a case that children simply aren't getting a full parenting experience because mothers are now expected to work rather than stay at home and raise the kids. I'm using that as an example of how the dynamics of how raising kids has changed. There are many more.

The cause and the solution are relatively straightforward. Effectively implementing that solution is a lot harder and I'm quite surprised you're unable to see the difference between a solution that is simple in principle and a solution that is simple to implement - especially since we all know that 'solving' diabetes is simple in principle (take insulin/meds etc.) and very, very difficult in practice.

[foxl]

Originally Posted by fgummett

OK it seems obvious... "sloth and gluttony" and its simple... "we just need our children to be more active and eat less junk food"... so why is it still getting worse do you really believe that parents are not interested in their childrens' health even at just a genetic level we have a vested interest in our offspring living at least long enough to pass on our genes to their offspring who need to live long enough... and so on...

Why, with such a simple cause and such a straightforward solution, is the situation still getting worse year after year after year... isn't there even the slimmest possibility that we are missing something from the picture here?

Epigenetics would nicely fit the ticket, would it not?

Because, I agree. It is not so simple as apathetic or negligent parenting regarding diet and / or exercise. My kids are somewhat eating-disordered, but the circumstances of their gestation and birth (see my post above) supply ample empirical evidence, in my mind at least.

[fgummett]

In terms of affluence I'll remind you that, at least in the USA, the poorest (financially speaking) socioeconomic groups are reportedly twice as likely to be obese as those from the richest socioeconomic classes. So the highest proportion of obesity is among the ones holding down multiple manual jobs, without the labour saving devices and two SUVs in the driveway...

For my own experience my son is 19 in January... at University now, he was a teenager during the 6 years of this study and I was very active in his upbringing... so I got to see him and many of his school-friends regularly. I don't recall seeing many if any children at his school that I would describe as even overweight let alone obese... perhaps my perception is way off but I don't think so. He has had just about every video game console. He and his friends have always been busy both at school and every evening. He and his friends are all lean and athletic. The area where the school is situated has a high proportion of Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers, Architects and the like -- not my choice I only live out there to be close by so he could live week and week about between his Mom and I -- so I'm guessing, better off socioeconomically.

If at least a partial solution is simply to remove pop-machines from all schools, improve school dinners and increase physical activity by say 20 minutes a day (it's a start right) then why not just do it? How hard could it be? I'll agree that would go some way to mitigating the issue but I'm still not convinced we have the whole story yet.

[DeusXM]

So the highest proportion of obesity is among the ones holding down multiple manual jobs, without the labour saving devices and two SUVs in the driveway...

Most of which isn't particularly influential on the overall activity level of a 13-year-old. It's also worth noting that those in poorer socioeconomic groups also tend to be less informed when it comes to nutrition and may not have time to prepare decent meals. There is a similar problem in the UK as well, obesity is much more prevalent among the poor than the rich.

He has had just about every video game console. He and his friends have always been busy both at school and every evening.

There's your answer. He's been 'busy'. I'm assuming your son didn't spend hours sat in from of the TV or Playstation every weekend. Given the area in which the school was located and the groups you described, it also sounds like he was in the sort of area where nutrition may be understood a little better - the sort of place where people can see something wrong with eating at McDonalds every day.

If at least a partial solution is simply to remove pop-machines from all schools, improve school dinners and increase physical activity by say 20 minutes a day (it's a start right) then why not just do it?

These are steps that are starting to take place in the UK. You know what happened when one school tried banning junk food from its cafeteria?

Parents drove to school at lunchtime to hand over burgers and chips to their kids. Sinner ladies sell kids junk food | The Sun |News

I don't know the state of American schools but I'd imagine passing any kind of legislation about what can and can't be served/sold in school would come up against these major hurdles:

1. Junk food vending machines are an important source of revenue for schools.
2. They're also a source of revenue for manufacturers who can exert clout on government to prevent the passing of legislation.
3. I get the impression Americans are not keen on what could easily be interpreted as an act of the 'nanny state'.

[foxl]

Yes they are starting to remove them, here, too, Deus.

My school dist. never had machines in their schools (other than teacher lounge). Unfortunately last yr we had a teacher who for a party bought all her kids full-sugar and caffienated sodas from that machine!