Dear Editor,

The main problems associated with child obesity are cardiovascular and medical illnesses. However, an even greater dilemma exists – cancer. According to a study by Cell magazine, excess weight acts as a promoter of tumors, particularly in the liver.

The children of today will not live as their grandparents, due to the negative consequences of obesity and passivity, according to the president of the Organising Committee of the European Society Congress of Endocrinology and Nutrition. Within the last 10 years, the figure for child obesity has doubled, reaching 13.9 per cent. Also, 30 per cent of obese children will be obese in adulthood.

The habit of leaving children in front of the television, so they do not annoy us too much, is not good for their health. Two New Zealand scientists have demonstrated that watching too much television during infancy increases the possibilities of becoming more directly obese than through plain bad nutrition or by not doing physical exercise. Forty-one per cent of people who are overweight at the age of 26 coincide with those who spent more hours of their infancy in front of a television screen.

The United States Center for Consumer Freedom has began a campaign against obesity under the motto “Obesity: epidemic or exaggeration?” which pretends to negate the obvious in the country with the fattest people in the world. The journal pointed out that obesity was the second cause of death in that country.

Eroski, the distribution group, has launched a campaign against obesity in collaboration with four health- and healthy food-related associations. Obesity poses a serious problem to individuals’ health in a lot of developed countries, due to the incidence and the conditioning of health spending. It is estimated that around 13 per cent of the population between the ages of 25 and 60 is obese. The percentages of child and juvenile obesity are even more worrisome. Almost 24 per cent of the population between the ages of two and 24 is obese, and 26.3 per cent suffers from being overweight.

The best condiment for food is hunger.

Clemente Ferrer

clementeferrer3@gmail.com