research
Why should we be encouraging our nation to get back to family cooking?
Families that eat together stay together
In every society food is important both socially and culturally. Preparing and eating food together enables families to talk, interact and share experiences.
Research from the Catholic University of America showed that ‘When families ate together frequently, research showed academic performance went up 38%. Kids were 142% less likely to smoke, 93% less likely to drink, 191% less likely to use marijuana and 169% less likely to have more than half of their friends be drug users.’
‘At least 1.1 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder, with young people in the age-group 14-25 being most at risk of developing this type of illness. Every year more children are admitted to hospital. In 2006 58 children under the age of 10 were admitted to hospital with eating disorders – 35 of them were boys.
eating disorders
Beat
In a survey of 600 young people with eating disorders, beat found:
- Only 1 percent of children felt they could talk to their parents about their eating-related concerns.
- 9 percent of children felt they might be able to talk to someone at school.
- 92 percent of children felt they couldn’t tell anyone.
Beat currently believes the number of people receiving treatment for anorexia or bulimia to be near to 90,000, while many more people have eating disorders undiagnosed, in particular those with bulimia nervosa.
childhood obesity
The Shocking Facts
Childhood obesity is big news and unfortunately, like the waistbands of our nation’s children and teenagers, it’s set to get even bigger.
Childhood Obesity Statistics
Statistics from the most recent large-scale survey in the UK shockingly reveal that 25 percent of boys and 33 percent of girls aged between two and 19 years are overweight or obese – and there’s little sign the incidence is slowing.
Juliette Kellow BSc RD
www.weightlossresouces.co.uk
