From The Chronicle Herald?..
Maybe we should be thinking about childhood obesity as an infrastructure deficit.
We know that if we don?t take care of bridges, sewers and electrical lines, the materials they are constructed from will gradually break down. Depending on the asset, the consequences could be catastrophic.
Similarly, if we don?t take care of our kids? health, we are paving our way to a future with an underperforming workforce and a weakened social infrastructure.
Not to boil human beings down the status of societal assets, but it is a fact that children are our future citizens, workers and taxpayers. This is worth some thought when you consider that one in three Canadian children is now overweight or obese.
If you take the word of the medical profession, those children are at an increased risk of developing heath problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and bone, liver and kidney problems.
When we have children, we educate them so they can perform the jobs and services we need to keep our communities and economy running. They are our future teachers, doctors, carpenters and entrepreneurs. They will pay taxes to support social services like health care, roads and old age pensions.
Unhealthy children will grow into unhealthy adults who will not only place a burden of millions ? perhaps billions ? of dollars on a health-care system, but will also be absent from the workforce and be on long-term disability more often.
As a result, there will be fewer people to do the work, and those remaining on the job will be working longer and harder to fill the gaps.
This also means fewer tax dollars generated by government to fund the system, a system that sees health care already overburdened by the bulge of seniors.
So, can a country like Canada afford to have one-third of its adult population functioning below its potential because of preventable disease caused by fat?
This past week, the Ontario Medical Association staked out new territory for the battle against obesity, calling on governments to crank up the pressure on obesity by imposing a junk food tax and placing graphic warning labels on foods of low nutritional value.
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Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=6049
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