Obesity was once considered a disease of adults; however, it is becoming increasingly common among children. Why do you think this is happening? What can be done to help children stay healthy?

Although

earlier it was thought by many that obesity is an illness that mostly affects the grown-up population, nowadays it impacts more and more

children

. Massive

junk

food

advertising is believed to be the cause of the problem.

Therefore

, from my point of view,

such

measures as restricting

this

kind of advertising should be taken into account. The foremost reason for the underage overweight issue can be the high levels of child-targeted commercials of

food

high in sugar, salt and fats,

such

as fast

food

, sugary drinks, and candy. Not only do

food

marketers use offline marketing, be it television, billboards, or posters but they

also

use online ones as well,

thus

incorporating all possible sources of communication. Recent research has shown that advertising can significantly influence

food

preferences, especially in young

children

under 10 years old due to viewing ads as unbiased sources of information and the inability to critically respond to marketing. Being highly influential,

such

sophisticated promotion of

junk

food

can easily undermine parent’s efforts to help their

children

eat healthily. The most effective solution to

this

problem, from my point of view, would be the government’s restricting marketing of foods high in sugars, salt and fats, especially those aimed at

children

and teenagers. Rarely do people realize that excessive weight is a global problem and

therefore

it should be tackled on the state level. Having restricted

junk

food

advertising, the government would limit its harmful impact on the public and

therefore

would help to ensure the health of the entire nation in the long run.

For example

, some of the world-leading countries,

such

as Canada, Norway, and Great Britain, were able to lower the childhood obesity rate significantly by enforcing law restrictions to

junk

food

ads targeting persons under 18. In conclusion, I am strongly convinced that were it not for being bombarded by youth-targeted

food

advertising,

children

would not massively suffer from diet-related illnesses.

Therefore

,

this

issue should be tackled by the government using law enforcement restrictions of

food

-focused broadcast advertising and other child-targeted marketing techniques.