Providing youngsters with fruit and vegetables, involving them
in buying and cooking healthy food, and encouraging them to eat
it are key elements for creating healthy eating habits.
Nutritionist Elisabeth Lind Melbye from the University of
Stavanger, warns however against strict rules on what children
can or cannot eat. That can actually make them less healthy.
Steady increase in obesity Accordingly to health statistics, the
number of young children who are overweight or obese has been
rising steadily over the past 30 years. The proportion of
overweight children in the USA, the UK and southern Europe is
almost twice as high as in northern Europe. Nevertheless,
roughly one in five Norwegian eight-year-olds is overweight or
obese. Daily consumption of fruit and vegetables by children in
Norway is far below the recommended level. Melbye views these
developments with concern. She now wants to mobilise parents in
the fight against obesity, and her PhD thesis has focused on the
vital part they play in encouraging