Fat parents raise underweight children on junk food<\/p>\n
Margie Mason, Associated Press, Jakarta<\/p>\n
When a woman with a fat aluminum kettle on her back enters a
\nworking-class neighborhood, children quickly swarm around to
\nshare spoonfuls of the thick, syrupy porridge scooped from the
\nvat.<\/p>\n
This treat called bubur sumsum Jawa -- rice flour mixed with
\nsweet coconut milk and sugar -- sells for about Rp 1,000 (10 U.S.
\ncents) a bowl, creating a local favorite cheap enough for many
\npoor families in Indonesia's sprawling capital.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has its share of McDonald's and KFCs, but far more
\nubiquitous and affordable are cheap street foods like the sweet
\nporridge and chiki-chiki, the country's catchphrase for packaged
\njunk food. As families abandon the countryside for cities, the
\nabundance of this poor-quality food has grown.<\/p>\n
One result, say global health experts, is the paradox of
\nunderweight children with fat parents.<\/p>\n
Dr. Benjamin Caballero first noticed overweight mothers with
\nthin, stunted children a few years ago in a Brazilian clinic.<\/p>\n
After looking closer, he found the problem was more widespread
\nand prevalent in developing Asian nations undergoing economic
\ntransition with a high number of people migrating to cities.<\/p>\n
A survey published in the International Journal of Obesity
\nwithin the past year examined seven countries for underweight-
\noverweight households.<\/p>\n
The two with the highest prevalence of such families are in
\nAsia: Kyrgyzstan with 13 percent and Indonesia with 11 percent, a
\nfinding based on data from several years ago and adjusted for
\nhousehold size.<\/p>\n
These countries are still relatively poor, but incomes are
\ngrowing enough for parents to give children the equivalent of a
\nfew U.S. cents a day for preservative-filled, processed foods
\nlacking vital nutrients children need to grow properly. Adults
\nwho eat them merely get fat.<\/p>\n
Caballero, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Johns
\nHopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote of
\nthe phenomenon in a recent commentary in the New England Journal
\nof Medicine.<\/p>\n
\"A lot of the globalization of food markets has resulted in
\nthe introduction of many processed foods in these countries in
\ntransition, which has changed the eating habits of people,\" he
\nsaid in an interview.<\/p>\n
Families who once grew their own fruits and vegetables now
\nmust buy everything in the city where cheap street food abounds.
\nThat change, along with more mothers working outside the home and
\ncooking less and families watching TV instead of working in
\nfields, is what's leading to these so-called \"dual-burden\"
\nhouseholds, Caballero wrote in the medical journal.<\/p>\n
Changes in eating habits are visible on Jakarta's busy streets
\nand in its outlying neighborhoods as children like seven-year-old
\nRaras, come home from school and beg their parents for change to
\nbuy chiki-chiki -- potato chips, candy, fried cassava, cookies.<\/p>\n
\"My kids prefer to eat that type of food every day,\" said
\nRaras' mother, Nining. \"I tried to forbid my kids from buying
\nthat kind of food, but I cannot.\"<\/p>\n
Nining, who is chubby by Indonesian standards, said her
\naverage-sized daughter began eating chiki-chiki when she was
\ntwo years old and is now addicted to it.<\/p>\n
An Indonesian nutritionist says the majority of families she
\nsees are still underweight, although she's starting to see more
\nfat children with fat parents in wealthier families.<\/p>\n
\"In lower-income families, usually the mother or father are
\nquite skinny and the children become undernourished or stunted --
\nnot growing tall or not enough weight,\" said Uken Soetrisno, of
\nthe government Board of Research and Development of Nutrition and
\nFood.<\/p>\n
And while the majority of households may not have overweight
\nand underweight members, Caballero said he's received letters
\nfrom health experts all over the world who are seeing the
\nphenomenon more and more.<\/p>\n
He fears that the problem will progress to a new phase as
\nthese countries gain more wealth -- producing overweight
\nfamilies, as is the trend in many Latin American countries.<\/p>\n
To address the dual-burden issue, Caballero recommends that
\ngovernments recognize the phenomenon and devise intervention
\nplans targeting both underweight and overweight households.<\/p>\n
Key prevention for both could include encouraging breast-
\nfeeding, improving nutrition among women of child-bearing age and
\neducating communities about the importance of prenatal nutrition.<\/p>",
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