A researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, warned in his article published in the Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology and Metabolism Journal that the Western "toxic", "addictive" diet plays an important part in child obesity. Robert Lustig, author of the report, insists on the unhealthy eating habits Western environment impose on kids. The "addictive" foods omnipresent in Western diets are high in calories, overloaded with sugar and low in fiber.

"It will take acknowledgement of the concepts of biological susceptibility and societal accountability and de-emphasis of the concept of personal responsibility to make a difference in the lives of children. Our current Western food environment has become highly 'insulinogenic,' as demonstrated by its increased energy density, high-fat content, high glycemic index, increased fructose composition, decreased fiber, and decreased dairy content," writes scholar Robert Lustig in his study.

The researcher points out in his article that obesity is mainly caused by processed foods that have come to contain more and more sugar. High levels of sugar in foods cause insulin addiction in little children and eventually get them to suffer from type 2 diabetes.
"In particular, fructose (sugar) - too much - and fiber - not enough - appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin," he said. Insulin promotes increased appetite and eating disorders, decreasing at the same time physical activity and energy in an individual. Cutting on foods laden with sugar and low in fibers is the most appropriate solution for helping children lead a healthy life with no health impairments.

But the author of the study also warns that not children are the ones to be blamed for their unhealthy eating habits, but their parents who do not offer them enough attention and support.

"The concept of personal responsibility is not tenable. No child chooses to be obese. Furthermore, young children are not responsible for food choices at home or at school, and it can hardly be said that pre-school children, in whom obesity is rampant, are in a position to accept personal responsibility," Professor Lustig insisted.