My recent study tour of Britain over the issue of junk food and obesity has led me to further research indicating that any pregnant woman eating junk food is likely to have an overweight child. Not only that, but the child may be born with gastric or indigestion problems.
I have also come to learn that a mother’s diet during pregnancy and breast feeding can affect her child’s food preferences and there is an increasing risk of the baby being overweight.
Pregnant women who consume an excess of chocolate, salt, chips and crisps, butter or cheese, doughnuts, and fizzy caffeinated drinks such as cola, should not expect an easy birth or a healthy baby. The health of babies born to such mothers mostly turns out to be poor, with problems arising such as asthma, indigestion, and heart palpitations… apart from being fat.
The problems manifest when the babies are three or four months old. Normal appetite control is impaired and the infants begin to develop a taste for similar types of junk food.
If pregnant women continue to eat junk food, especially while breast feeding, it could easily put their babies on the rocky road to obesity. That will certainly make the task of teaching and promoting healthy eating habits in future generations even more challenging, and the problem will quickly spiral out of control.
England is really in trouble due to the fear of an ever-increasing number of obese children and, if expectant mothers are not educated in healthy eating habits now, it will be a really serious issue in the near future.
It is very important for mothers-to-be and breast feeding mothers to understand the hazardous consequences of choosing to eat junk food just for the urge or for the taste. They should purposely be made aware of the futures of their offspring as good mothers.
It is also important for pregnant women to be aware of the potential consequences of over-eating during pregnancy, using the lame excuse that they are ‘eating for two.’ They should also be made aware that the embryo in the womb needs only small, but nutritious quantities of sustenance; therefore they should take care to eat healthy foods.
The British Government is trying very hard to educate young school children about the importance of healthy eating habits. However, the health department monitoring the child obesity issue seems to be unable to find the root cause of the rapidly increasing incidence of infant obesity.
But, as the experts have advised – and I second their opinion – healthy eating habits need to start during pregnancy, or even during the breast feeding period. This is very important for the government health department to know when Britain is facing the worst overweight problems of the entire globe. Obesity is one of the major agendas of the health care department today.
A scheme to educate pregnant and suckling mothers about healthy eating habits would be beneficial and workable. If properly promoted, through the right channels, the dangerous issue of obesity facing Britain today would certainly be reduced to a more acceptable and manageable level.
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