0A-S2-4

EFFECTS OF URBANIZATION AND TV ON CHILDREN’S DIETS AND HEALTH

Gracey M

School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

Many countries are now highly “urbanized” with very large populations in big cities and towns. This has significantly changed lifestyles and infant feeding and dietary patterns. It is important to realize that this occurs now in developing countries and in transitional societies, even in non-urban and rural and remote areas; this is “surrogate” urbanization. Prolonged breast-feeding is now uncommon and bottle-feeding and complementary feeding are more usual. Commercial influences, advertising, the media and TV have strong effects on these changes. In the USA children and adolescents spend, on average, 3-5 hours daily with TV, computers and other sedentary pastimes. “Westernized” diets are typically high in calories, high-fat, high-salt and contain much highly refined carbohydrates. Commercial “fast-food” is typical of this style of eating. The switch to such diets and less active lifestyles have been dramatic in many countries; in industrialized countries this is linked to increasing rates of overweight, obesity and risks of later chronic disorders such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. This is emerging as a major problem in rapidly developing nations and is occurring in populations migrating to industrialized countries. This is of major public health importance not only for paediatricians but for health promotion, disease prevention and for health planners and policy makers.