This public health issue affects the whole adolescent population, independently of their social-economic background!
Some adolescents (Bite Back Youth activists) were invited into the UK House of Lords sessions on "Food, Diet and obesity" last May to share evidence on the food environment they live in... which explains a lot:
๐ Their context: "๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ด, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ป๐ป๐ข ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ด, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐จ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต."
๐ One their proposals [on energy drinks] "๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐จ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ?"
Even those who strive for a healthy diet are not given half a chance in the "๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ" food system of today.
๐ Article on the adolescent diet study: https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/17/uk-adolescents-get-two-thirds-of-daily-calories-from-upfs-says-survey
๐ Transcript of the House of Lords - session with Bite Back oral evidence: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/14773/html/