Children's bad diet and future violence

[serryjw]

quote.....
Let me begin, in constructing this strange argument, with a paper published
in the latest edition of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. It
provides empirical support for the contention that children who watch more
television eat more of the foods it advertises. "Each hour increase in
television viewing", it found, "was associated with an additional 167
kilocalories per day"(1). Most of these extra calories were contained in
junk foods: fizzy drinks, crisps, biscuits, sweets, burgers and chicken
nuggets. Watching television, the paper reported, "is also inversely
associated with intake of fruit and vegetables".

There is no longer any serious debate about what a TV diet does to your
body. A government survey published last month shows that the proportion of
children in English secondary schools who are clinically obese has almost
doubled in ten years. Today, 27% of girls and 24% of boys between 11 and 15
years old suffer from this condition, which means they are far more likely
to contract diabetes and to die before the age of 50(2). But the more
interesting question is what this diet might do to your mind. There are now
scores of studies suggesting that it hurts the brain as much as it hurts the
heart and the pancreas. Among the many proposed associations is a link
between bad food and violent or anti-social behaviour.
end quote.......

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-05/09monbiot.cfm


What is ADD? I don't remember any child having behavior problems when I was in school. I wouldn't be surprise if they did the same study for adults incarcerated would find they also have many dietary shortages.
We can take this one step further for kids or adults that the people that watch the most TV are lower income, have little else to do(unemployed!) and watch TV and EAT JUNK all day long. When was the last time you saw carrots advertised as a snack food?

[Warpy]

1. I have an uncle who was diagnosed with ADD as an elderly

adult. His siblings all said the behavior was well established when he was a kid. He had a lifetime of self medicating with alcohol and it finally killed him.

It was always there, it just wasn't described in the literature.

However, it's definitely on the rise. I can think of no other causes but environmental ones, pesticides and adulterants in food, probably damaging the kids in utero and continuing to damage them in childhood.

The problem is that overworked and overscheduled parents don't have the time to do that healthy stuff, or at least they don't think they have the time to do it. Fast food is the easy way out and yes, it's killing us.

[Deja Q]

2. Fast food is a symptom of something far more detrimental. The key word.

The key word is "FAST".

Look at our "society".

[serryjw]

3. "I'm in a hurry"

I hear that dozens of times a day while petitioning. I'm sorry, nobody is that busy they can't take 30 seconds for an explanation of the petition and time to sign. Our priorites are all screwed up

[Warpy]

7. Agreed,

with overscheduling, overwork, lack of down time and lack of vacation time making it necessary to have everything immediate, delivered to the door, no muss or fuss or need to load the dishwasher and take time away from all the other crap people have to do when they get home.

It's one of the reasons people are such suckers for predigested opinions from the far right. It cuts time.

It's one hell of an unhealthy way to live.

[Poppyseedman]

4. Something to consider:

Applies only to Adults. Children don't know beter
Myth: Fast foods make you fat
Truth: You make yourself fat

As an adult who was taught terrible eating habits as a child, {have another devil dog, you will feel better} I can tell you breaking ingrained bad eating habits is a life long trial.

As for ADD, I believe about 90% of cases diagnosed are complete and utter horseshit.

I didn't say it didn't exist, just way over diagnosed by doctors who don't want to deal with parents who are in denial they are lazy and incompetent parents

[Mythsaje]

5. ADD, to some extent, is simply a failure to conform...

that's not to say that there's anything abnormal about being forced to sit still in a small, hard-seated desk and fed stale information you will then be asked to regurgitate later, day after day after never-ending day.

And god only knows that the human race wasn't ever violent BEFORE the onset of TV and the "TV diet."

:sarcasm:

That said, you should take a moment to look into Thom Hartmann's theories about ADD. I think he's closer to the truth than the big pharma supported "researchers." Another good source of information about this sort of stuff is Mel Levine's "Many Kinds of Minds" and the associated website.

I think the whole system is (deliberately or not) FUCKING our children. Of course, I've had this thought since I was in school myself. I, unlike many others, was not turned off of information and learning, which seems to be a side-effect of the "one-size-fits-all" education to which our children are forced to submit.

To quote Pink Floyd..."We don't need no education...we don't need no thought control."

[benddem]

6. something is terribly wrong

the number of kids on Ritalin, anti-psychotic and anti-depressive drugs, the rate of diabetes 2 in kids (as a nurse with 40+ years of experience I never saw a kid with type 2 diabetes) and the obesity epidemic is incredible. Everytime I see a kid with one of those drinks with 1/2 cup of sugar in them I want to whip it out of their hands...or lecture the parents. I don't.

[serryjw]

8. Actually, you probably should

The Ritalin business is enough to wanta smack someone.Those brains are growing. I don't need 40 years of medicine to know that they are being fed garbage. I am very hypoglesemic. When I eat too much sugar I 'lose it'. I get angry, my hands shake and very emotional. I feel like I'm having a heart attack. Can't imagine what a small child must feel like.