Excessive weight gain and obesity have become major issues among children. It is argued that schools should not be allowed to sell fast food in order to reduce the rates of childhood obesity. Even though a ban on fast food in the school cafeteria seems to be a positive step, I do not agree that this is the most effective measure to alleviate this problem.
Fast food has already been proven to be extremely detrimental to one’s health; thus, preventing schools from selling it to their pupils is definitely a step in the right direction. The fewer burgers, pizzas, and chips children consume, the better. If school canteens cooked fresh, healthy meals, children would eat them. This measure, therefore, could prevent children from eating fast food for lunch and may even help some of them get used to eating healthy food. However, it is not sufficient to solve the overarching problem.
The difficulty is that consumption of unhealthy food for lunch at school is only part of the issue. Research shows that children whose parents are overweight are at an increased risk of becoming overweight themselves. Apart from genetic factors, this phenomenon can be linked to shared family behaviours such as eating and activity level. This is why, in order to avoid the development of obesity in children, whole families should be encouraged to develop healthy habits, such as regular physical exercise and fresh meals at home.
To conclude, although preventing schools from serving fast food is a step in the right direction, I believe that, on its own, it cannot prevent children from becoming overweight or obese. The only way to solve this problem is to encourage children and their families to exercise regularly and eat healthily.