Advertising and Childhood Obesity

You can discover so many interesting things reading the morning news. According to the paper today (Star Tribune, July 9th 2011), advertisers are up in arms over government guidelines aimed at encouraging children to choose healthy foods. They call such guidelines a "reckless" maneuver in light of the fragile economy.And they estimate 74,000 jobs could be lost this year if these voluntary nuitrition guidelines are followed by the food industry

Yup, that's what the article said. Seventy-four thousand jobs. Of course, I expect they did not factor in how many doctors and other health care persons would see less patients - which would make job loss predictions even higher. Pardon my sarcasm.

Since when does the sale of snacks, soft drinks, and other nutritionally empty products take precedence over children's risks for diabetes, obesity, and other disease related to diet? It used to be the "fat kid" stood out - and was teased sometimes unmercifully. Now the number of children who weigh too much has become the new norm, with an alarming increase in diabetes .

I make my way through the rest of the morning news, budget ideology battles, the dead, and my favorite comics. Then there it was again - on the back page in an article exploring the "its my way or the highway" mentality that pervades today everything from politics to marriage relationships.

You wouldn't think increases in ideology-driven mindsets and children drinking soda pop and consuming munchies would have much in common. Not so. As one person in the article comments, a focus on self-interest naturally leads to greed. The greed of misplaced priorities place sales of foods (and I hesitate to call them foods) as more important than the health of our children.

Whoa!