Some surprising food facts and statistics that all parents and carers need to know.
The British Medical Association estimate that 30 per cent of boys and 40 per cent of girls will be obese by 2020.
An obese teen is 70 per cent more likely to become an obese adult with an increased chance of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and death. Overweight or obese adolescents tend to leave education earlier, and as adults earn a household average of £3,500 less each year, and are 20 per cent less likely to marry.
If you’re still not sure of how a child is affected by an unhealthy diet, take a look at this list of killer facts.
Fact 1
If a child has 1 (45g) chocolate bar, 1 (35g) packet of crisps and 1 can (330ml) fizzy drink every school day, it will result in an extra 559 kilocalories per day.
To avoid putting on weight a teen would have to play 80 minutes of football per school day or run a marathon every 2 school days!
If the same snacking habits continued over the course of the school year, it would add up to eating to 20 (250g) blocks of butter, 41 salt sachets, 11 kilogrammes of sugar, and would cost around £235 – the same price as a 12-month mobile phone contract with 500 minutes and 300 texts.
Fact 2
Eating a side order of fried chips with half a sachet of salt rather than a side order of new potatoes will provide an extra 15 (250g) packs of butter (3 of which would be saturated fat) and an extra 100 sachets of salt over the course of the school year (190 days).
Fact 3
Adding a 4g sachet of salt to a portion of chips at lunchtime will provide 67 per cent of the recommended daily intake of salt for 11-16 year olds and 80 percent for 7-10 year olds.
Fact 4
A recent survey in Secondary Schools showed that 87 per cent of boys and 98 per cent of girls failed to consume the intake of iron recommended by the Caroline Walker Trust (CWT) nutrient standards for school meals.
Fact 5
The same survey showed that 80 per cent of boys and 77 per cent of girls failed to consume the amount of calcium recommended by the Caroline Walker Trust (CWT) nutrient standards for school meals.
Fact 6
The average child in the UK eats less than half of the recommended 5 portions of fruit or vegetables every day.
Fact 7
In 2003, a third of 12 year olds and half of 15-year-olds were found to have had some dental decay experience. Dental decay is associated with a high level of sugar in the diet such as eating sugary foods and sipping sugary drinks, particularly between meals.
