Eating out is also more of a family affair, where kids choose the restaurant. And burgers are fast becoming the short form for birthday. From 2002-2005, McDonald’s has seen a 45 per cent increase in birthday parties. Pizza Hut’s new promotion is Eatertainment, a treat bundle of a pan pizza, beverage and dessert priced at an unbelievable low of Rs 75. With this offer, those 70,000 footfalls daily at 125 Pizza Hut outlets across 31 cities might soon get heavier.
But what’s a mum to do? "Each time I tell my son you’re fat, he shoots back, mama, so is everyone else in my class," says Delhi-based homemaker Nisha Gupta about her son, aged 9 but wearing size-30 jeans. And whose fault is it really? Dr A. Laxmiah, deputy director, National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad, who spearheaded an obesity study in 22 schools, says all the schools he visited had no facilities for ground sports. He says, "PT periods are compulsory in theory but children remained in class reading or playing on computers."
Says Mumbai-based dietician Naini Setalvad: "At elite schools like Bombay International where parents cater, the lunch menu includes macaroni and cheese!" Often principals are in cahoots with canteen suppliers, who give them hefty commissions on colas but not on fresh juice. In Delhi, junk food is banned in schools but you can still get processed oily chips.
At home, the ultimate hidden influencer is TV. Last year alone, kids’ channels grew at 45 per cent versus general entertainment and sports, which grew at 10 per cent. Kids today are watching 16 hours of TV a week—over two hours a day. TV viewing does have a health impact. There’s international proof that two hours of daily TV viewing increases the obesity and diabetes risk by 23 and 14 per cent respectively. "Communication is cracking," observes Dr Jitendra Nagpal, senior psychiatrist at VIMHANS, Delhi. "Without emotional flavour today, so many adolescents reach into the refrigerator, looking for comfort in food."
Worse still, research shows that 75 per cent of kids influence household decisions. That’s why chocolate, cola and chip manufacturers are buying up almost half of the 6-10 minutes in every hour of commercial time on kids’ channels. Hungama TV’s Cheetos brand promotion claims "8.5 crore children are eating out of our hands". What are Cheetos? Grub-shaped munchies filled with starch and oil.
That’s why health promoters want the agriculture ministry to match each minute of junk food advertising on TV with one of health food. That’ll be a godsend for exasperated young mums like Deepa Goel who says: "My daughter calls me Hagar the Horrible, as I’m the only one pestering her to eat vegetables and fruit." We need healthy heroes, perhaps a Krrish 2. Getting his mojo from an apple, he can maybe do for our bachchas what Popeye did for spinach in America.
