SA’s children eat too much junk food, says Discovery

South African children eat too much junk food, spend too much time in front of screens and do not get enough exercise, putting them at risk of a host of life-threatening diseases in later life, according to a study released on Wednesday by Discovery Health.

“We should be outraged because so much of it is not in their control,” said Vicki Lambert, head of exercise science and sports medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

The government was introducing sound policies to improve children’s nutrition, such as a tax on sugarsweetened beverages, but parents, schools and communities could do much more, Lambert said.

The 2016 Healthy Active Kids SA Report Card — the fourth of its kind — draws on the last five years of published data on children’s health.

Children scored a C for overall physical activity and a D for weight, a slight improvement on the 2014 report card when they scored an overall D.

On average, children watch three hours of television a day, only half do sport at school and teens consume three times more than the recommended quantities of sugar a week.

In 2007 and 2010 children scored an overall C-.

For the first time the report card includes data on preschoolers, highlighting a nation of extremes: nearly 23% of children aged between two and five are overweight or obese, but an almost equal proportion (20%) of children are stunted.

Many children are not getting nutrient diversity in their diets, which are often heavy on cheap carbohydrates and low on fruit and vegetables, said the report.

WE SHOULD BE OUTRAGED BECAUSE SO MUCH OF IT IS NOT IN THEIR CONTROL

UCT senior researcher Catherine Draper said parents played a pivotal role in establishing healthy behaviour in their children at a young age. “Setting them on the right course really pays off,” she said.

Draper said girls who were overweight between the ages of four and eight were 42 times more likely to be overweight or obese in their late teens, while overweight boys were 20 times more likely to be overweight in their teens.

The report noted that legislation controlling the marketing of unhealthy foods to children had been delayed.