TORONTO -- Children face a future of heart disease, potentially as early as the end of their teen years, if the exploding problem of childhood obesity is not addressed, a U.S. expert warned Sunday.

Dr. David Katz told delegates to the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress that obesity triggers Type 2 diabetes. Both obesity and diabetes are risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

"Children growing up in the U.S. and soon Canada are the first cohort in modern memory looking at a shorter life expectancy than their parents because of epidemic obesity and diabetes," said Katz, director of medical studies in public health at Yale University's school of medicine.

He likened modern humans to polar bears in the desert, incapable of adapting to the environment.

The human body was built for a time when food was scarce and securing enough to survive required extensive physical activity. In the past century -- and most particularly the past couple of decades -- humans have been virtually drowning in calories while living an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.

Tempting high-fat food is at every turn, Katz said. "Our ancestors did not have willpower that we lack. They lacked the leaf blowers that we have," said Katz.

He insisted experts know how people should eat, dismissing fad diets that outlaw carbohydrates, for instance.

The challenge, Katz said, is figuring out how to persuade people to eat a healthy, balanced diet in moderation and to exercise.

He said parents have to lead by example and teach their children how to eat correctly.

"It is time to put less food on the plates of our children, and if they have the good sense to stop eating when full, pat them on the back and say 'Well done' rather than worrying about how making our kids fat could possibly help starving kids someplace else in the world."

Parents also should demand that schools play a part by outlawing the sale of junk food.

"I see a vending machine filled with junk food in a school every bit as unacceptable as a vending machine filled with packets of cigarettes," Katz said.

He suggested governments devise a simpler system of food labelling to make it easier to find healthy foods. A system of colour-coded stickers -- green, yellow and red -- could be used on all packaged foods, Katz said.

http://www.canada.com/health/story....F1-EC3183FD0021

Also this link

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/st...6E-7170C9486BE9

and this one

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/st...6E-7170C9486BE9

Interesting.

>>"He insisted experts know how people should eat, dismissing fad diets that outlaw carbohydrates, for instance."

Well, I guess he does have a point: we shouldn't need low carb diets. If we could have had mostly healthy carbs from birth, most of us wouldn't have the problems that we have. LC is about the only choice for those of us for whom prevention is too late.

'Amen' to most of the rest of the stuff he said. Now our politicians just need the balls to fund our schools properly, so they can kick out Coke and the other corporate junk pushers.

...I disagree with the labelling idea, though, if it's going to be the same twits who brought us the food pyrimid. It's no use to try to classify foods as 'good', 'bad' and 'in between'.

The problem is the food some schools make is just as bad for you. At my schools 90% of the time a Lunch was: Batter Fried Meat, Tater Tots, Overcooked Spinach From a Can, a Sugar-Laden Fruit Juice Bar, and Low-Fat Milk. Breakfast was Low-Fat Milk, Bread, and Sugar-Laden Cereal (Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms, etc...) They had a salad bar for a few months, but eventually got rid of it...and never brought it back. Closest thing to fresh fruit we ever had was an occassional orange slice with the meal. Closest thing to a fresh vegetable was the occasional tiny bit of lettuce in certain foods [namely Tacos.]

Plus, the schools need more recess time. You can't keep kids couped up all day in a classroom, feed them crap, and then blame the parents when they get fat and sedentary. We had recess in Elementary School. In Middle School, for part of my first year you could go outside and play basketball, etc...when you finished eating. But, some kid got his head split open on the BB Court and they would no longer allow us to go outside after lunch. We weren't even allowed to walk around inside the School until the Teacher [for our next period] came.