In America, the statistics are disturbing: 75% of men and 67 of women are overweight or obese, which means that less than a third of adults are at a healthy weight.
Unfortunately, children are also affected since more than 17% aged 2 to 19 are placed in the obese category. In France, 16% of children are concerned. Well beyond appearance, it is health that is at stake.

Obesity is closely linked to a number of chronic diseases: type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), dementia... and about one-third of all cancers are directly related.
Children affected by excess weight significantly increase their risk of disease and complications, much earlier than others. In 2015, the American Heart Association revealed that some obese children as young as 8 years old were already showing signs of heart disease. Something to worry about.

What is driving our youth to these slippery slopes?

Television and pretty, well-designed ads are real enemies of our children's health. The marketing expenditures of junk food vendors are revealing. In 2009, a staggering $1.7 billion was spent in America on marketing unhealthy foods to children, while only $280 million was spent on advertising healthy foods.
In the same year, $149 million was spent on marketing sodas and sugary drinks. These beverages typically contain at least 16 grams of sugar, which is more than a child's daily allowance. A large number of studies have confirmed that sweetened beverages, not just sodas, are strongly associated with obesity. Fruit juices contain, in many cases, almost the same amount of sugar as sodas, but many caring parents are still under the illusion that fruit juice is a healthy product and therefore fail to conclude that these types of drinks are also guilty of their children's weight gain.

In adults, the WHO suggests that sugar consumption should be a maximum of 25 grams (about 6 teaspoons) per day, or 5% of daily caloric intake.
In children, this consumption should be about 3 to 4 spoons, or 12 to 16 grams per day. One sugary drink is enough to put a child at the limit of what their body can handle without negative health effects.

Marketing is particularly harmful when it is aimed at children. Literally deceived and manipulated by junk food companies in search of revenue, children's discernment is rarely right. Moreover, marketing to children has been turned into a science of its own: the "NAG factor" or how to get low-nutrition, potentially bad-for-kids products into the household by manipulating and testing their parents' limits.
Children today are constantly exposed to marketing through television and magazines, but also via games, DVDs, stealth and viral marketing, and the internet. According to a study published by the Institute of Medicine, children between the ages of 2 and 11 see an average of 10 food ads daily, the majority of which are, of course, processed products, high in sugars, sodium and bad fats.
Little and big kids are thus turned into loyal consumers, often for life, and are brainwashed into believing that junk food will make them happy and full of health. The truth is diametrically opposed to such propaganda.
But parents are also responsible: beyond the manipulation and harassment they constantly undergo from their little angels, advertisers make sure to remove all guilt and even convince them of the benefits of their products.

The easiest way to avoid this trap is to face the facts: the most processed products are also the most publicized. It is therefore essential not to listen to the sweet promises made by smiling tigers and animated bees, and to fill your cupboards and refrigerators with products that are as healthy and natural as possible.