Jun

22

Childhood obesity campaign launched - Irish Times(Childhood Obesity News)

Filed Under Childhood Obesity News | Leave a Comment

The research, undertaken by the Health Service Executive, safefood and the Health Promotion Agency in Northern Ireland, was unveiled at the launch of a major campaign by Minister for Health Promotion and Food Safety Mary Wallace aimed at tackling the problem of obesity in Ireland. Entitled Little Steps Go a Long Way, the campaign is a major awareness initiative -  involving television, radio advertising and a website - designed to show that small changes to physical activity and food habits can have a big impact on health. Described as a “one of the most serious public health challenges” by the World Health Organization, the problem of obesity is at epidemic proportions among adults and children across the island of Ireland and looks set to continue growing at a rate of 1 per cent every year. In 2005 it was estimated that about 2,000 premature deaths in the Republic were attributed to obesity and that these deaths could be costing the State as much as €4 billion a year. Director of Human Health and Nutrition at safefood Dr Cliodhna Foley Nolan said children’s eating habits mirror those of their parents and children of normal-weight parents are more likely to have a healthy weight. Almost 20 per cent of families eat their meals in front of the television more than four times a week and there is evidence to suggest that eating meals in front of the TV is associated with poorer eating habits,” she said. Read Childhood Obesity

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,