The latest Canadian Community Health Survey data indicates that children who watch more than 2 hours of screen time (TV, computer, video games) per day have double the incidence of over-weight and obesity when compared to children who watch less than 1 hour per day.
 
Four Simple Steps health tips

October 2011

Coming in 2012 from the Childhood Obesity Foundation: The Living Green Healthy and Thrifty (LiGHT) program: LiGHT. This online learning program for youth ages 10-17 and their families can help youth reduce excess body weight by:

·         Adopting a healthier lifestyle

·         Living more sustainably

·         Saving unnecessary personal expenses

This project is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The views expressed in the LiGHT program do not necessarily represent the views of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

 

September 2011

Check out the latest editorial written by the Chair of Childhood Obesity Foundation, Dr. Tom Warshawski. The editorial was published in the Vancouver Sun on September 12th, 2011. Click here to read the editorial titled "Tax Needed on Sugary Drinks" 

 

Summer 2011

Live Right Now

Check out CBC Live Right Now, a movement to inspire Canada to get healthy. Click here to visit the Live Right Now website.

 

Fall 2010

  • The Childhood Obesity Foundation applauds the federal government for taking action on childhood obesity.

    For Immediate Release

    Vancouver, November 22nd, 2010

    The Childhood Obesity Foundation applauds the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, on the federal government’s new initiatives for research on physical activity and childhood obesity through the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).

    Canada, like many nations, is in the midst of an epidemic of overweight and obesity.  Currently, 59% of adult Canadians are either overweight or obese. There has also been a dramatic increase in unhealthy weights in children. In 1978 only 15% of children were overweight or obese. Today, approximately 26% of Canadian children ages 2-17 years old are overweight or obese.

    Helping children and adolescents achieve the healthy body that is just right for them can be done by creating healthy habits for the entire family. One important step is this process is ensuring that children and adolescents are physically active for at least 1 hour per day. The research projects announced by the federal government will shed light on how best to motivate youth to be physically active and inform us as to which types of activity are most beneficial.

     “We know that there is significant improvement in both physical and mental health when children and youth obtain their required 60 minutes of physical activity per day,” says Dr. Tom Warshawski, paediatrician and chair of the Childhood Obesity Foundation. “We hope that the research initiated by the federal government will contribute to more young Canadians becoming physically active.”

    About the Childhood Obesity Foundation

    Founded in 2004, the mission of the Childhood Obesity Foundation is to identify, evaluate and promote best practices in healthy nutrition and physical activity to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity. The vision of the Childhood Obesity Foundation is children and youth of Canada free of chronic diseases that ensue from obesity.

    For more information, please contact: Childhood Obesity Foundation

    Telephone: 604-375-5292

    Email: info@childhoodobesityfoundation.ca

Spring 2010

Brand recognition as early as three years old: all types of marketing offensives should be regulated!

Montreal, March 3, 2010 – Right after the release of a study in the Psychology & Marketing1 journal concerning brand recognition by children, many groups across Canada reacted and asked for an efficient regulation of food marketing, as suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO). “This new study shows that the intensity of the promotion contributes directly to the global obesity epidemic, as the WHO has been claiming since 2006”, says Suzie Pellerin, Director of the Quebec Coalition on Weight‐Related Problems (Weight Coalition).

“With the constant exposure of certain brands during the Olympic Games, we should not be surprised that McDonald’s has the highest rate of recognition by children in the study with 93%!”, she adds. McDonald’s and Coca‐Cola each gave 212 million Canadian dollars to be part of the 2010 Olympic Games. According to a recent survey conducted by Ipsos Descarie with 2300 respondents, 38% of adult Canadians are wondering if the sponsoring of the Vancouver Olympic Games by McDonald’s was appropriate. And as for the Coca‐Cola sponsoring, 29% of the respondents think that it is not very or not at all appropriate.

“At the beginning of 2010, the WHO invited all its Member States to regulate in order to reduce the exposure and impact of fast‐food marketing on kids, in its global strategy to fight chronic diseases. It also encouraged them to consider all types of marketing that tend to create a relationship between the child and a brand, like sponsorship, product placement, sales promotion, use of well‐known personalities, brand mascots or characters popular with children, websites, packaging, point‐of‐purchase displays, emails or text messages, philanthropy, viral marketing, etc.”, says Paul Lapierre, Chair of the Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada.

For the Chair of the Childhood Obesity Foundation, Dr. Tom Warshawski, there is clear evidence that both marketing to children as young as 3 is effective and that children this young are defenceless against the persuasive power of advertising. “Children who believe in the Easter Bunny will also swallow the line that happiness comes in a soft drink can. It is time for policy makers to seriously study whether allowing marketers full access to naïve, trusting children is in society’s best interest,” he concludes.

Researchers had established that the recognition of brands and their meaning was perceptible as early as 7 or 8 years old. However, the study published this month in the Psychology & Marketing journal shows that kids between 3 and 5 showed an emerging ability to use ads to define which products will be the most amusing and will make them popular, even if they don’t know how to read yet. From a very young age, they associate the product, the brand and its logo, along with its potential usefulness in their daily life. So, the popularity of a brand and the peer pressure that comes with it have an indisputable impact on the positions and requests of young children.

About the Quebec Coalition on Weight‐Related Problems

Created in 2006 and sponsored by the Association pour la santé publique du Québec since 2008, the Quebec Coalition on Weight‐Related Problems is working toward the adoption of specific public policies in regard to weight related issues. It acts within three strategic areas (agri‐food industry, sociocultural and built environment) to foster the development of environments that enable healthy choices and prevent weight related issues. For more details: www.cqpp.qc.ca.

About the Childhood Obesity Foundation

Founded in 2004, the mission of the Childhood Obesity Foundation is to identify, evaluate and promote best practices in healthy nutrition and physical activity to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity. The vision of the Childhood Obesity Foundation is children and youth of Canada free of chronic diseases that ensue from obesity.

About Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada

CDPAC is a network of ten national organizations who share a common vision for an integrated system of research, surveillance, policies, and programs for maintaining health and prevention of chronic disease in Canada.

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1 Cornwell B., McAlister A., Children’s Brand Symbolism Understanding: Links to Theory of Mind and Executive Functioning, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 27(3): 203–228 (March 2010).  

Winter 2010

The Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada and partners (including the Childhood Obesity Foundation) look to contribute to a reversal in the escalating trend in child and youth obesity.

A program of activities titled ‘Collaborative Action on Childhood Obesity’ will be carried out from October 2009 through March 2012

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OTTAWA – February 3rd, 2010 – The Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada (CDPAC) was successful in its application for funding from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer’s ‘Coalitions for Linking Action and Science’(CLASP)  initiative.  The project is additionally co-funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. The program of activities titled ‘Collaborative Action on Childhood Obesity’ will be carried out from October 2009 through March 2012. 

The coalition consists of six National, Provincial, and Territorial partners with expertise in policy, research, prevention/promotion and clinical practise. The coalition includes:   

·         Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada

·         Childhood Obesity Foundation

·         University of Ottawa

·         Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec

·         Quebec Coalition on Weight-Related Problems

·         Government of Northwest Territories

 

The coalition’s goal is to contribute to a reversal in the escalating trend in child and youth obesity by reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and screen-time by Canadian youth, decreasing the appeal and accessibility of unhealthy food choices, while improving the availability of healthy alternatives at participating schools. The coalition will work with select First Nations communities to assist in developing sustainable food strategies based on local traditional dietary practices. Our coalition will work with governments at the federal, provincial and territorial level to examine the potential role of taxation in combating the obesity epidemic. In addition, the coalition will learn from Québec’s historical experience with junk food sales zoning, and laws surrounding advertising unhealthy foods and beverages to children, in hopes of supporting similar approaches in other jurisdictions.

About Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada

CDPAC is a network of ten national organizations who share a common vision for an integrated system of research, surveillance, policies, and programs for maintaining health and prevention of chronic disease in Canada.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Bill Callery

Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada

       613-725-3769 ext 131  bcallery@cdpac.ca

 

 

Fall 2011

It's here! Screen Smart is a new program for elementary schools that aims to decrease recreational screen time and increase activity levels of studens! Click here to visit the screen smart website!

Join a research study! The Childhood Obesity Foundation is now listing current research studies that you can participate in. Please click here for details.

The Childhood Obesity Foundation has partnered with organizations across Canada with a goal to contribute to a reversal in the escalating trend in child and youth obesity. Click here for details.