To keep slim, eat as a family, says US obesity expert

Paris - If France wants to escape the epidemic of obesity visible in the United States, families should sit down more often at table and eat together, a US historian claims.

Peter Stearns of George Mason University in Virginia will tell a conference in Paris devoted to the female body Tuesday that the two countries have historically had "diametrically opposite" attitudes to the feeding of children.

By the beginning of the last century warnings were being given about the weight of American adults, but it took 70 years for parents and experts to become alerted to the possibility that children might overeat, he argues.

Child-rearing manuals were filled with advice about making sure that "children (increasingly, particularly girls) are not underweight", warning of the risks of anorexia.

Parents encouraged their children to eat and turned a blind eye to snacking.

In France, by contrast, from the 1920s onwards child experts advised parents to control what their offspring ate with measured helpings, meals at fixed times and little eating between meals beyond authorised snacks.

But at the close of the 20th century patterns began to change. In both countries fizzy sugar-laden drinks became more popular, long hours were spent at the computer or in front of the television, even if the problem was far more serious in America.

Obesity became more common, though it became widespread in the United States earlier where it is spreading much faster.

"The preservation of the quality of meals and of eating discipline, that remains part of the French family life, seems a vital component in avoiding the kinds of obesity trends which have exploded in the US. Management of childhood plays a vital role here," says Stearns.

French families have a less formal attitude these days, but still place emphasis on food quality and leisurely mealtimes, he says in his contribution to the conference, which looks at eating habits.

In the United States, children not yet two years old have acquired bad habits from their parents: French fries are eaten every day by nine percent of babies aged between nine and 11 months and by 21 percent of those aged between 19 and 24 months, according to a study published in October at a conference of the American Dietetic Association.

With sweets and sugary drinks added in, these babies consume 20 to 30 percent too many calories a day. At least a quarter of the 19-24 month age group eat hot dogs, bacon or sausages once a day, according to a study of 3,000 children financed by a US baby food manufacturer.

"Quantity and speed", according to Stearns, are what Middle America wants. This approach, reinforced by the opening in 1880 of the first snack-bars, posed no dangers when phsyical labour was the rule.

But when people became more desk-bound and the food industry's marketing became more tempting the result was growing obesity.

And the United States, unlike France until quite recently, concentrated more on the dangers of smoking than on over-eating. But obesity kills 300,000 people a year in the United States and the health costs it involves are almost as great as those caused by smoking. -- AFP

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