Tapu Misa: Keeping kids from getting overweight isn't all that hard

Far be it for me to preach fanaticism on the health front. Although I'm happy to dwell on the health-giving benefits of imbibing one or two glasses of wine every night for the antioxidants, naturally I'm equally happy ignoring advice to hold the sugar and salt. As for the gym ... well ... one day.

Besides, I've followed enough health studies to know that if you hold on to your bad habits long enough, sooner or later some august body will come up with an impressive longitudinal study which proves they weren't bad at all.

Just as some other team of researchers will inevitably produce a study declaring the ill-effects of something you'd always been told was good for you.

All of which can be very confusing for parents trying to get their children off to a good start. With all that contradictory advice, you never quite knew where you stood.

One moment you're giving your children orange juice and vitamin-enriched Ribena, and the next you're being told off by the dentist for rotting their teeth.

A decade or so ago, many of my well-meaning friends were opting for low-fat milk or no milk at all for their children. Now, the latest studies suggest that children who don't drink enough milk are, on average, shorter and more overweight than those who drink lots of the stuff.

Even the food pyramid has been redrawn by change. Not long ago, my children's favourites - rice and pasta - were in the all-you-can-eat category. Now they're at the top of the pyramid, reserved for foods that must be eaten sparingly, alongside another family favourite, red meat.

Which just goes to prove that when it comes to diet, it pays not to be too obsessed.

I am not, for instance, one of those people who are deeply, philosophically opposed to the idea of fast-food restaurants - though I know many who are.

In fact, I've frequented every one of the many fast-food outlets that my neighbourhood boasts. Pizza Hut and KFC have my delivery details on computer. The checkout operators at McDonald's know me by sight. I know by heart the takeaway menus of the Indian and Chinese restaurants down the road. I've tried the Thai, too, the baked potato place, the kebab place, the fish and chip shop and Wendy's.

So if the Ministry of Health ever goes through with that silly suggestion to restrict junk food sales to children, I'll be in big trouble.

Of course, I understand why. Obesity is the real pandemic of the 21st century - and child obesity most worrying of all. One in seven pre-teens in this country is seriously overweight.

As it happens, I know a few of those kids - including one who's had to suffer through two operations that wouldn't have been necessary if she hadn't been grossly overweight.

And having observed a few of them at close quarters, I'd have to say that the reasons for their obesity are usually blindingly obvious - to everyone except their parents.

There's nothing mysterious about it. Children today are no more gluttonous or lazy than in previous generations. The fact that they're a lot fatter, according to one British scientist, is a perfectly predictable biological response to a changed environment.

That environment, as the obesity series in the Herald last week pointed out, includes not only a diet that's high in calories and low in nutrients, but also our busy lifestyles and parental attitudes. TVs and computer games are being used as babysitters, and fearful parents are reluctant to let their children walk to school, or play outside.

The Ministry of Health suggests restrictions on junk food sales and advertising, which research shows has little effect on obesity. There's some justification for getting junk-food purveyors to take a more responsible attitude and promote healthier eating; and for making schools junk food-free zones.

But we shouldn't get too far away from the key to all this, which is parental responsibility. Kids might watch the food advertisements, but it's the parents who do the shopping and who control the environment.

Our lifestyle might dictate some of our choices, but not all. I can't always avoid feeding my children fast food, but I still have control of the TV remote. We don't have a PlayStation, and their time on the computer is limited to schoolwork and research.

They don't have time for PlayStations anyway because, despite their protestations of deprivation, they have a trampoline, a basketball hoop, bicycles, in-line skates, a skateboard, and neighbours who let them walk their dog.

As a result they're unlikely ever to get obese, no matter how often we might eat burgers.

Last year, one of my nephews came to stay for the school holidays. His father described him euphemistically as "a big boy" but, of course, he was fat. A few people had obviously told him so, because he was always at pains to turn down offers of a second helping. When I wasn't looking, though, he'd help himself to more.

By the time he went home, a week later, the weight had started to drop off. All it took was three square meals a day, water when he was thirsty, fruit when he needed a snack, and plenty of outside play.

It really wasn't that hard.

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