Scientists from nine countries are involved: the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Great Britain. TEMPEST started in 2009 and will run until 2013. The program has developed strategies to help children suppress or control their cravings for sweets. One of TEMPEST’s primary goals is to combat this escalating problem obesity in children and adolescents in Europe by providing the target group with tools to help avoid unhealthy eating. Researchers developed six different strategies based on surveys conducted in nine European countries on children from 10 to 17 years of age. The common assumption was that young people must take part in incorporating the right strategies into their daily lives and actively influence their own health. “Some children find it easier to control their eating habits by completely eliminating unhealthy snacks, while others prefer to find something that distracts them and allows them to forget about the urge for sweetness. All the time others make rules for them, stating that they should eat fresh fruit every day, or that they can eat sweets only on weekends”Explains Liliya Nureeva, PhD student at Aarhus Universitet. “Children should be aware of strategies that work in their favor so that they can actively control their junk food consumption,” she continues. Identifying unhealthy lifestyle elements in children and adolescents and developing strategies to help them change their habits is a very complex issue. It involves gathering knowledge of what constitutes temptation for people, and then finding ways to avoid or overcome them.
2022-11-10