Children should only get ONE Easter egg, says obesity expert
ONE Easter egg per child is enough, a leading expert in obesity has told parents.
Professor Donal O’Shea, the HSE national clinical lead on obesity, also said that children will receive six Easter eggs each on average.
He said this was too much, particularly at a time of an obesity epidemic, and urged parents and relatives to exercise restraint in the face of huge pressure from the food and drink industry.
On RTÉ’s Today With Claire Byrne, he said: ‘The biggest trouble I ever got into a few years ago was when I said I like chocolate, and every child should have an Easter egg, but just one. One Easter egg on Easter Sunday is how it came into being, and it came into being at a time when lots of kids gave up sweets for Lent. ‘Now, Lent is much less of a thing, and you are encouraged to purchase as many of these eggs as you can throughout Lent, and we know what happens when those eggs or other ultraprocessed foods are in the house, because the human brain is wired to consume.’ Due to people having a normal daily consumption of sugary foods, Prof. O’Shea said that some feel they have no choice but to ‘go large’ at Christmas and Easter. ‘The only way to, in inverted commas, “make it special”, is to go vulgar, in terms of the size of these eggs, the number of these eggs and the way in which they are continually promoted,’ he explained.
‘People do not understand how hard-wired the brain is to be unable to resist the combination of high fat, high salt and high sugar.’
On a positive note, Prof. O’Shea said Ireland’s adult obesity rates are falling, and that the sugar tax has worked, by reducing the amount of sugar in soft drinks.
He said Ireland had an obesity rate of between 23 and 24% a few years ago, and had been on track to catch the US at 33%. Now, it is edging to 20%, he said.
Prof. O’Shea said obesity needs to be treated like any other disease, as it can lead to cancer, heart conditions and stroke.
He said the weight-loss drug Ozempic was not a silver bullet for everyone, due to its side effects, but that there are safe treatments that do not involve surgery.
Meanwhile, a review of research encompassing 9.9million people has found that eating a lot of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) such as sugary cereals, ready meals and fizzy drinks has been linked to poor mental health and a risk of dying from heart issues.
A review by academics in Australia, published in the British
Greater risk of anxiety
Medical Journal, analysed 14 scientific articles from the last three years. It concluded that based on ‘convincing’ evidence, a higher UPF intake was linked to a 50% greater risk of a cardiovascular disease death, a 12% greater risk of type-2 diabetes, and a 53% greater risk of developing anxiety.
The experts called for a UN convention on ultra-processed foods, similar to the one on tobacco.