The Relationship between Children's Fast Food Consumption and Obesity.
14th International Conference on Chemical, Food, Biological, Healthcare and Environmental Sciences (CFBHES-18), Pattaya, Thailand, 25 - 26 April 2018, pp.70, (Summary Text)
- Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
- City: Pattaya
- Country: Thailand
- Page Numbers: pp.70
- Çukurova University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
The Relationship between Children's Fast Food Consumption and Obesity
Introduction- Childhood obesity is a serious public health problem. It is important to understand environmental factors and their contribution to weight gain in order for interventions to be effective. It is known that the causes of obesity are multi-factorial. Studies have shown that increased energy intake; especially among low socioeconomic groups is the main driving force of the obesity epidemic rather than a decrease in physical activity. Healthy nutrition options are at particular risk for very young children living in urban communities with low-income. Today, 14% of low-income preschool aged children are reported to be obese, and among them onethird is overweight or obese. We aimed to determine the effects of fast food consumption on childhood obesity.
Methods- We searched PubMed and Turkish Citation Index from 2007 to 2017, using obesity, fast food, health and children as keywords. Scanning was conducted both in English and Turkish languages. A total of 32 studies met the criteria for being included in the research.
Results- Television is the most popular fast food advertising medium; an average kindergarten student watches 2.8 advertisements for fast food per day. It is particularly worrying for children to be exposed to fast food advertising. Fast food companies have restaurants in easily accessible areas for families with children. For example, prior research shows that fast food restaurants tend to be clustered in school neighbourhoods. More specifically, many schools are located within walking distance of at least one fast food restaurant. Recent researches found that one-fifth of children ate meals out once per week or more; around one-fifth of adults and children ate take-away meals at home once per week or more. Kepper et al. showed in their study that pre-school obesity is negatively associated with fruit intake, vegetable intake, presence of grocery stores and outdoor play, but positively associated with fast food outlets and crime density. A research from UK supported the supposition that fast-food outlets were associated with weight gain in children. If the relationship is causal, then strategies designed to decrease the number of fast-food outlets in neighbourhoods are likely to have a positive effect on population health.
*Prof. Dr. Hakan DEMİRHİNDİ, MD, PhD (Corresponding Author), Çukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Adana, Turkey, e-mail: h.demirhindi@gmail.com Prof. Dr. Necdet AYTAÇ, Çukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Adana, Turkey, e-mail: naytac55@gmail.com Dr. Didem Ata YÜZÜGÜLLÜ, Çukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Adana, Turkey, e-mail: didemata8@gmail.com Dr. Tülin GÖNÜLTAŞ, Çukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Adana, Turkey,e-mail: naytac55@gmail.com
Differently in a study from China, the fast food consumption in mega-cities was examined regarding its association with obesity and hypertension among children. They collected data of 1,626 students aged between 7 and 16 (11.6 ± 2.0) years and of their parents in four mega-cities across China (Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Xi'an). No significant association between fast food consumption and health outcomes was detected.
Conclusion- Negative environmental conditions such as easy access to fast food and convenience stores or poor access to beneficial infrastructure create barriers to healthy behaviours like fruit and vegetable intake or physical activity, and therefore may increase the risk for childhood obesity.
Keywords- Children, fast food, obesity
Hakan DEMİRHİNDİ*, Necdet AYTAÇ, Didem Ata YÜZÜGÜLLÜ, Tülin GÖNÜLTAŞ
14th Int'l Conference on Chemical, Food, Biological, Healthcare & Environmental Sciences (CFBHES-18) April 25-26, 2018 Pattaya (Thailand)