Barbados fast food chain warned about targeting children

(Barbados Nation) FAST-FOOD CHAIN Chefette Restaurants has been warned by a top advisor in chronic diseases against its targeting of children for its foods.
In a stinging rebuke of the company, director of the Chronic Disease Research at the University of the West Indies Dr Alafia Samuels said Chefette’s deliberate marketing of targeting children was actually defying the global recommendations to fight childhood obesity.
She was unapologetic as she spoke this week on the topic, Accelerating the NCD Agenda – Towards a Better Caribbean Stronger Together, at the UWI Cave Hill Campus. Samuels said she had no qualms about putting her “neck on the block” because fast-food was resulting in too many obese and unhealthy children.
The World Health Organisation states that childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health issues of the 21st century. Overweight and obese children typically grow into overweight and obese adults, who are susceptible to chronic complaints such as diabetes and cardio vascular disease which place considerable burdens on national health systems and economies.