Beware! Fast food could be addictive

FAST FOOD: If we make a critical analysis about the general health condition of the urbanites in Sri Lanka, one factor becomes quite obvious. Most of them have wide knowledge on healthy foods but that knowledge has not been followed by practice.

This gap between knowledge and practice is probably due to deficit in attitude and inability to resist pressure or temptation. We seem to have forgotten the simple facts on healthy eating: that more food is not more or better nutrition; that more food of the wrong kind is damaging. Our hygiene textbook in the primary school taught us that a healthy diet can be surprisingly simple and less expensive.

The invasion of 'fast food' culture with mushrooming kiosks and eateries has done much to change the good food habits of most urban people.

Most fast foods are not exactly of high nutritive value; some might even be unsafe and served with additives contribute very little to good health. Basic foods served clean are wholesome and give better nutritive value than highly seasoned and overcooked mass-produced foods.

It is no comfort to us in Sri Lanka even if the percentage of obese people is not yet statistically alarming. But the number of middle age even adolescent persons who are already obese is rising; the progressive increase of diabetics in our population is one indication already in evidence; high blood pressure and heart diseases are also striking increasingly our younger age group.

Did you notice (you would if you care to watch carefully) a significant number of school children at least in the cities are obviously fat and flabby, a consequence perhaps of excess of snacks and colas with minimum or no physical activity.

Our body must get the energy to meet its needs. A growing child and adolescent needs enough to meet basic and growing demands which can and must be met by such simple basic foods as grains and pulses with generous amounts of vegetables and fruits but moderate meats and fats. All these are available and affordable within an adequate but balanced diet by most households.

Do not label me as a puritan. I am not. I would not even dream of voting for a political party who wants to ban entirely foods like kotthu roti, hamburger, fried chickens, rolls and pastries and ice creams. By all means, eat them if you can afford, but only in moderation. "Self-discipline" is the key word here.

The human body is an admirable endowment with systems and functions that given half a chance will work well; we have an obligation to ourselves at least take good care it deserves. Of particular concern to nutritionists is our passive acceptance of unhealthy food.

We fail to recognize, for example, the possible damage done by the year-around massive ad campaigns by the popular fast-food icons. One nutritionist said, "We take the arrack bottle off the billboard because it is marketing bad products to our children, but fast food icons are considered cute. How different are they in their impact, in what they're trying to get kids to do?" A good question to answer!

We should never forget that our children are particularly vulnerable to the problem. Soda companies and fast-food outlets increasingly gear advertising to kids. The general belief is that the parents can't win this fight. But it is not so. Maybe, they can't win it alone. But, they stand a good chance through a few policy changes:

What's needed today, therefore, are broader-scale policy fixes that promote healthier foods and behaviours across Sri Lankan society.

* Make activity more accessible, by, for example, building communities to allow more walking or biking.

* Regulate TV food ads aimed at children and mandate equal time for pro-nutrition messages.

* Ban fast foods and soft drinks from schools, instead forging school contracts with sports-related companies.

* Subsidize healthy foods and drive down prices of fruits and vegetables by 75 percent.

* Discourage consumption of poor foods through a "fat tax," earmarking the funds for nutrition and recreation.

These are blunt measures. Yet, they are the only "real path to doing something constructive about this problem."

In modern democratic society, a government has the right and responsibility to work in the interest of the public good; making laws and bye-laws to assure food safety and hygiene, production, processing and marketing of pure and quality food is one example of public good.

Making the laws is only a step; without the means and the will to enforce full compliance good intentions achieve little. This is an area where the stake is very high because good and safe food benefits the entire population.

Ideally, a national Food and Drugs Administration (on the lines of FDA in USA) with unambiguous authority and capacity should be established to encompass all foods, drugs, and even cosmetics. Our consumers deserve no less.