With the crisis, the French are tightening their food budgets. This food insecurity would triple the risk of children suffering from hyperactivity or inattention.
A five-year-old girl expelled from the canteen and taken to the police station because her parents could not pay… This news item shocked the whole of France. But, it also illustrates an indisputable phenomenon: in times of crisis, the food budget is often put on a diet. Credoc has seen it: 2008 marked a breakthrough. The decline in purchasing power caused food consumption to fall by 2.2%. In addition, this year, the number of subscribers to Restos du cœur jumped by 10%.
The consequences of these restrictions are already evident. Several studies have established a link between insecurity and obesity. But today, Inserm goes further. There would be a link between food insecurity and behavioral problems in children. According to a Franco-Canadian study published in the journal Plos One, a child who lived in food insecurity between 18 months and 4 years old is three times more likely to have symptoms of hyperactivity and / or inattention between 4 and 8 years old. In fact, it had already been observed that children in these food insecure situations had more difficulty concentrating, sitting at school, etc. But, here, we discover that the consequences are long term.
According to Inserm, no less than 10% of French people suffer from “food insecurity”. Not only do they have limited access to food, but also irregular and the food is less healthy. However, these families face multiple problems on a daily basis which can also explain the development of behavioral disorders in children.
Listen to Maria Melchior, researcher at Inserm: “Even if all of these factors are removed, food insecurity remains well linked to behavioral problems in children.”
According to the authors of the study published in Plos One, two hypotheses can explain this link. First, “the inability of parents to take care of the family’s food on a regular and satisfactory basis could weaken the parent-child bond. »Which would leave after-effects.
Listen to Maria Melchior: “This situation has a negative effect on the bond between children and parents.”
Second possible explanation: precariousness leads families to consume foods richer in fat and sugar. Sometimes iron deficiencies appear. Which could be the root cause of inattention and hyperactivity problems.
Listen to Bruno Falissard, child psychiatrist co-author of the study: “This link between diet and hyperactivity was until recently ‘very smoky, no one believed it! Until a major Lancet investigation …”.
A study published in the Lancet in January 2011 showed that symptoms of hyperactivity decreased in ¾ of children who ate a diet consisting mainly of water, white meat and vegetables.
But food insecurity obviously has more immediate consequences. Last June, the UK Food Safety Agency sounded the alarm. “The tighter the budgets, the more food risk-taking increases. ” A study conducted among 2,000 people found that a third of them trust the smell and appearance of food to judge its freshness, and ignore the expiration date. “But, germs like E. coli or salmonella do not smell, even when they have reached an unsafe level, warns Bob Martin, a food safety expert with the British agency.
Half of those polled in this survey also said they were trying to make better use of leftovers. At a time when each French person throws away an average of 7 kg of still-packaged, unopened products, this can be considered as good news. However, the British expert is more circumspect: “Unless you are very vigilant, there is a real risk of food poisoning”. And the Agency reminds that leftovers must absolutely be put in the refrigerator within 90 minutes of being cooked, covered with cling film and consumed within 48 hours.
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