Junk food carries penalties: experts

23 Apr 2009, 3:47 pm   -   Source: AAP
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The fit4fun campaign's 2009 program was launched in Brisbane with a plea to parents to think about the consequences of the food they feed their children.

Do you want thighs with that?

Scientists say there's just no easy way to exorcise the burger demons.

If your eight-year-old eats a small burger, chips and a soft drink, guess how much exercise they'd have to do to work it off?

According to a study by the Children's Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC), it would take three hours of exercise on their bike.

The study was partly funded by the fit4fun campaign, run annually by Brisbane's Royal Children's Hospital Foundation.

The campaign's 2009 program was launched on Wednesday in Brisbane with a plea to parents to think about the consequences of the food they feed their children.

Dr Helen Truby, an expert in childhood obesity with the CNRC, says it's important to understand the link between the food kids eat and the energy it provides.

"Quite often people eat a lot of high fat, sugary snacks, and don't always realise how much energy they have to use up to work it off," Dr Truby said.

"Those types of food - like chocolate, crisps and biscuits - contain energy but not much in the way of the micro-nutrients which are really important to children.

"These foods can contribute to having too much energy in your diet, which then leads to you getting too heavy."

Many of the things kids get in their lunch boxes every day carry a heavy penalty in the weight stakes.

"If an eight-year-old ate a small packet of chips, they would have to ride their bike for 48 minutes, or do skipping for about 36 minutes, to burn off the energy in that packet," Dr Truby said.

"With six little cubes of chocolate in a bar, an average eight-year-old would have to be running and playing for about an hour to burn that energy off.

"We think our kids might be quite active but most people are not consistently active for long periods of time."

Dr Truby said if an eight-year-old had a can of soft drink after a game of soccer, it'd take another entire game to only just burn off the energy from the soft drink.

"Use fruit and vegies as snacks, and just the occasional thing like chips or a chocolate as a real treat occasionally, not part of everyday eating for kids," she said.

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