Given our love of fatty food, this story is a little awkward for us, but it’s important enough that we decided not to just sit on it. According to statistics published in today’s Népszabadság, the number of overweight children in Hungary has doubled over the past half-decade, and a full quarter of Hungarian kids are not just a little chubby, but out-and-out obese. The paper also points out that eating too much, and eating too much fatty food, is only part of the problem; lack of exercise is also considered a major culprit. The release of the numbers seems to be related to the country’s impending signing on to a World Health Organization-sponsored initiative to introduce tighter regulations on food advertising aimed at kids. So if there are any kids out there reading this, take a hike.
No seriously, this is bad news, because the kids are not just getting fat, but sick, as childhood obesity is linked to hyper-tension, diabetes and other problems. And this is especially alarming in Hungary’s example, because when a kid in Hungary gets sick, the first response of a concerned parent is usually to stuff them full of super-rich, home-style Hungarian food.
