Healthy Eating.

Today, one in three children are classified as overweight. Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming obese adults. Here in Bridgend 57% of over 18s are classed as obese leading to a range of problems such as diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. Obese young people also often suffer from the social and psychological effects of being overweight.

There has been a lot of discussion recently about how best we can tackle childhood obesity. A Private Members Bill was recently put forward to restrict the advertising of unhealthy food products to children by introducing a nine o’clock watershed for these adverts.

This idea is backed by many groups and charities although the evidence is disputed. Opponents claim that a ban on advertising would be impossible to regulate, would damage TV programming due to the drop in advertising revenues, and would not have a real effect on obesity levels. Currently consultations are taking place with the food and drinks industries to find a way forward and planning laws are going to be used to prevent fast food stores opening near schools. Much action is also being taken at grass roots level. Many of our schools in Bridgend have healthy eating policies which put a ban on crisps and chocolate and some schools provide fruit for their students to help encourage healthy eating habits. Hopefully, if we encourage healthy eating from an early age we will help to reverse the trend of rising obesity in Wales.