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Gender and postcode determine fast food frequency

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February 24th, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

Report breaks down Danes’ consumption of fatty foods

A report from the public health institute Statens Institut for Folkesundhed (SIF) has revealed how many of us eat fast food on a regular basis, and there are great disparities, depending on region and gender.

In North Jutland, 14.7 percent of people eat fast food at least once per week. The proportion consuming this much in the capital region was also high at 14.6, while across the rest of Zealand, the figure is just 11.3 percent.

There was a striking difference between the amount of fast food eaten by men and women: 19 percent of men eat it once a week or more, but just 7.7 percent of women do so.

Cause of death?
The report (available here in Danish) refers to a 2006 study’s finding that 4 percent of deaths in the country can be attributed to the consumption of too much saturated fat.

Dietician Lisette Winther told DR Nyheder that as well as such health considerations, diet also plays a part in daily functioning. “You become lethargic and less robust when the body doesn’t get the nutrients and vitamins it needs,” she said.

“But some also only eat two or three times a day because they are busy. That’s not healthy either because when you eat you eat such big portions since you’ve not eaten enough over the course of the day.”

SIF makes the assessment that “overall there has been a positive development in Danes’ average diet”, citing a reduction in fat content and an increase in the consumption of fruit, vegetables and fish.

On the other hand, it warns “there has been a negative development in the form of an increase in the consumption of full-fat cheese, sugar and sweets and a drop off of potatoes in the diet”.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”