Healthy eating at school to compensate for the activity-related obesigenic lifestyle in children and adolescents: The Quebec experience

Abstract

In this article, we describe the Quebec experience about the determinants of childhood obesity and the search for solutions, which are well adapted to the constraints of the current lifestyle. As expected, it is likely that a decrease in physical fitness and its related sedentariness as well as suboptimal food habits have contributed to the increase in overweight prevalence that was observed between 1980 and 2000. Our research experience suggests that other less suspected activity related factors have also played an important role in the occurrence of the obesity epidemic. This is particularly the case for short sleeping and demanding mental work, which are features of our modern lifestyle. Because there is no foreseeable prospect for a change in sleep and mental work habits, we argue that compensations in other factors may be necessary to prevent weight gain in this new context. We thus developed a concept of food design aiming at the maximization of the satiating properties of a food or a meal course. In this context, we were successful in the design of healthy lunch bags for students of a school located in a low socioeconomic area. Indeed, for a majority of menus, an optimal compromise seemed to be reached between nutrient composition, satiating potential, palatability, and financial accessibility. In summary, the Quebec experience reveals that childhood obesity is a complex problem that partly results from unsuspected environmental factors that deserve creative solutions to at least partly compensate for their effect. © 2011 American Society for Nutrition.