Recent debate in the US and UK has stirred controversy. No, it's not due to the rise of fundamentalism, nor to events precipitating the fall of the Russian ruble. It asks, instead, whether parents can be accused of child abuse and neglect if their children are obese?



Indonesia is far from immune to the global problem of childhood obesity. Parents, members of the extended family, school administrators and local governments must be educated so that they realize that childhood obesity is not 'cute' and that a fat child is likely to grow into a fat adult and that their adulthood is likely to be plagued with health problems ranging from painful joints to diabetes, heart disease and ultimately a premature death.



My Indonesian acquaintances recount their own childhoods, when even a single obese child in a classroom of 20 students was an anomaly. I challenge you to go into any school in Jakarta today and find less than 20 percent of the children overweight.



And this in a country where chronic malnutrition in some areas remains a perennial problem ' though often not because of a lack of available calories and nutrients, but because ' as with obesity ' parents are stifling their children's growth through superstition and poor practices. Two examples of these are parents who don't feed their children fruit because they are takut masuk angin (afraid of colds) and parents who giver their children tea to drink with meals, which inhibits iron absorption and thus promotes anemia.



Obesity among Indonesian children is triggered by various factors, several of which are common among developing countries. Sugar and fats are the main culprits. Sugar is increasingly being viewed by some scientists and activists as 'the new nicotine' ' that is, sugar can be addictive.



But if so, it is an addiction willingly promoted by food manufacturers, vendors and even family cooks.



I recall that when I first arrived in Indonesia 16 years ago, gado-gado (salad with spicy peanut sauce) was a spicy, savory dish; nowadays I often am served a sweet concoction if I forget to tell the vendor to hold back on the sugar.



And when a local juice brand first arrived on the market, many were free of added sugar; nowadays all the company's juices have added sugar. And I was shocked to recently buy emping (melinjo nut) crackers that were sweet, not savory.



Where does this sugar mania derive from? Restaurants add sugar to just about everything because they are afraid that customers will complain that the food/drink is not sweet enough. And presumably, this is the business decision adopted by the juice maker.



But is it a case of the cart leading the horse? Yes, the consumer demand is there because ' see 'addiction' above ' the providers have triggered it. And so it is passed from adult to child, who will grow up accustomed to the taste of sweetness, oblivious (or worse, dismissive) of more nutritious alternatives that are sour or slightly bitter.



The situation with fats is just as dire. I am astounded by how often Indonesian colleagues of mine take days off to attend funerals of relatively young family members who had suddenly died.



Because autopsies are a rarity in the country, the prevalence of heart and arterial disease is pure guesswork.



What is more predictable, however, is that daily consumption of gorengan (fried snacks) ' a part of office culture ' must inevitably lead to health problems.



Moreover, fat-heavy fast foods ' burgers, pizzas, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, french fries ' are now the preferred foods of many adults and children. My child attends a school where some of her classmates bring chicken nuggets to consume during snack time. It's not unlikely that an uneducated nanny or maid simply sends the child to school with whatever is easiest to make, fearing an employer's wrath if the child is not provided a processed snack.



What has happened to the concept that fruit is a suitable, perhaps the best, snack?



I despair when I see fat children being given a bag of chips when they loudly proclaim that they're hungry or when an obese family comes into a restaurant and stuffs French fries and other fat-heavy foods into their children, to be washed down with a sugar-laden soft drink or juice.



I despair when I see childcare providers chasing already bulky children around a mall, a container of food in hand, imploring them to eat. I despair when I see sidewalk vendors selling gorengan and syrupy drinks or ices outside of schools.



And I'm reminded of a Native American people known as the Tohono O'odham of southern Arizona, whose members have the world's highest rate of adult-onset diabetes, brought on by their favoring the same processed foods and drinks that now hold Indonesia in thrall.



I'm not a monk practicing self-denial and abnegation ' I enjoy an occasional pizza, cake and fried chicken myself. But it is clear that Indonesia must cease its addiction to sugar and fat to assure its citizens better health.



The President can take to the bully pulpit and castigate poor behavior, soap operas can illustrate healthier food options instead of female hysteria and cooking shows can make efforts to wean people off sugars and fats.



Companies can gradually cut back on added sugars ' perhaps from a baseline of government

regulation. The benefits of the country's abundant fruits must be promulgated; Indonesia does not need packaged coconut water with added sugar, not when fresh coconuts are so abundant and inexpensive.



And although it has been discussed periodically in the past, snack vendors selling sugar or fatty items should be driven away from doing business outside of school premises.



We can make a difference and forestall the epidemic of obesity-related child abuse.



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The writer was the vulnerability assessment officer for the UN World Food Program (WFP) in Indonesia and East Timor in 1998-2002.

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