Obeseogenic Environment

I’ve been a councillor since 1992 and thought I’d seen my fair share of jargon, but a cringe making phrase appears to be entering the British lexicon – the “obeseogenic environment”!

I was at a London Council’s Young People Forum talking about childhood obesity.  This is a serious problem.  12% of Ealing’s reception children are classed as obese and that increases to nearly 20% at year 6 (age 11).  Clearly the problem is that children are either consuming too many calories, not doing enough exercise or in reality, a combination of both.  I accept that to address this will take different approaches depending on the racial, social, cultural groups etc (getting middle class kids away from being driven to school or finding opportunities for young muslim girls to play require different approaches).

However, I don’t think the argument is enhanced by phrases like obeseogenic environments, which I’m not going to try and justify with a definition. In Ealing we recognise the problem and have started a series of initiatives to tackle childhood obesity. Serious problems need serious actions, not stupid phrases.

Explore posts in the same categories: Children's Services in Ealing

Tags: childhood, obeseogenic environment, Obesity

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