The prevalence of overweight school-age children, including children in the Caribbean, arising out of ill-advised food consumption habits and less than adequate exercise regimes could be one of the major health challenges looming on the global horizon according to UNICEF’s recently released report on The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.
Obesity, according to the Report is “increasing in all age groups, with particularly steep increases among school-age children.” It tags so-called ‘junk food habits and a lack of exercise as the principal reason for what it says is a disturbing, growing trend.
Throughout the world, most school-age children do not eat enough fruit or vegetables, regularly consume fast food and carbonated soft drinks, and are not physically active on a daily basis, the Report says.
