Overweight, low-IQ kids 'a wake-up call for society'

[scorecard]

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So if Thais are drinking more milk, why are IQ's not getting better. Do they have to drink even more? Milk is good for you, but Asian's don't drink a lot of dairy, yet some Asian countries have very high IQ's. Fish is a much better brain food than milk.

As far as obesity is concerned, dairy is no help at all. Milk can be fattening by itself, but many dairy products have added sugar and fat. And these are the ones the kids prefer.

I think Foremost is getting a free ride on milk marketing here.

Without naming any milk companies, many years back my Thai son (he and his Thai wife are both nutrition experts and nutrition teachers, they have kids) asked the pediatrician at a five star hospital in Bangkok and later at the most famous hospital here in Chiang Mai about the advertising on milk boxes, e.g contains ' 1 c X4 etc., etc., which will make your baby more clever / higher IQ' etc.

Both doctors immediately became serious and said that they are well aware of these claims and said that there is no real evidence based on fact or in internationally accepted long-term medical research.

Both doctors said that various Thai medical bodies have lobbied the Thai health ministry many times to have this advertising banned.

But big bucks wins the day.

Edited June 8, 2014 by scorecard

[potters]

Generally where there are fat kids there is or are fat parents stuffung the shit

into them.

Starts with and ends with mum and dad,if they cave into every whim and tantrum

then the end result is inevitable.

Schools also need to up the anti with PE and nutritional food on parents days

promote healthy eating.

I first came here 20 years ago and you never saw fat kids.

Now eating shit and getting lazy about 1 in 3 appear overweight.

Just my 10 bobs worth

Im in my mid 50s and still work out 4-5 times a week

diet could be better but dont indulge in fast food crap and drink occasionaly.

[AleG]

When research funded by a milk manufacturer proves that children have to drink more milk, I have doubts about the research.

Also. there are really a lot of conclusions (I.Q., vitamin A intake, vitamin D intake, iodine intake, milk intake, electronic screens, salt, fat, being obese, ... ) from this one research, I wonder how much of it is scientific.

It looks more like an article from a women's magazine than the conclusion of a scientific research.

Obviously abscent from the article is that most Thais (and Asians for that matter) are lactose intolerant after the age of five or so. Force feeding milk to children that can't digest it is not going to make them healthier or smarter.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

For years I've been wondering if "something" has changed since I was a child. LOL Well alot has changed but re: milk consumption. I was given milk three times a day and maybe - if I was lucky b/f bed with a snack.

In Thailand I do not see ANYONE and especially children drinking milk. In the early am I see school children coming from home drinking sweet drinks e.g. soda etc. Why no milk? Is it lax parenting/economics/ ignorance ? What???

Not much milk produced in Thailand, expensive.

What there is generally reconstituted from powdered milk, tastes bad.

Many Asians allergic to dairy products.

In the USA milk was really cheap and tasted good.

That's several good reasons not to drink milk in Thailand.

Edited June 8, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Lancelot]

- good diet is a luxury these days with food prices absurdly high but anyone can exercise- it should be a priority in all schools.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I agree about exercise but beg to differ about thee affordability of food- its a bargain! Especially basic food stuffs like fresh vegetables, fruit, rice, meat, potatoes, salt, pepper, flour... In terms of income, we spend less on food than ever.

Prepackaged food is relatively expensive, not to mention unhealthy

[Clutch]

This is what's expected when your staple diet comes from daily dining at 7 Eleven.

[bobmac10]

Forget all that. The school directors allow all these sweet kanom vendors to sell to these kids when they arrive and leave school.

Studying? NO! The milo or ovaltine truck is visiting. Everyone to have some sugar before studying!

Have to agree, the kids swarm all over the sweet stuff the vendors are selling after they walk out of the school gates.

The fattest kids I've seen are from the private schools, whose parents are wealthier and give them spending money for junk food after school.

Then they go home, glued to the computer all night and don't eat their proper dinner.

The parents seem totally oblivious to what's happening.

[Dararasmi]

Generally where there are fat kids there is or are fat parents stuffung the shit

into them.

Starts with and ends with mum and dad,if they cave into every whim and tantrum

then the end result is inevitable.

Schools also need to up the anti with PE and nutritional food on parents days

promote healthy eating.

I first came here 20 years ago and you never saw fat kids.

Now eating shit and getting lazy about 1 in 3 appear overweight.

Just my 10 bobs worth

Im in my mid 50s and still work out 4-5 times a week

diet could be better but dont indulge in fast food crap and drink occasionaly.

Oh...really? I first went to Thailand 25+ years ago and I saw loads of fat kids. Though, they were, more often than not, members of the more affluent classes. The same was true when I was living there 20 years ago. Nowadays, it appears childhood obesity in Thailand spans all strata of society. (PS: Cow's milk is for baby cows, not humans. Quite simple, really.)

Edited June 8, 2014 by Dararasmi

[AlphMichaels]

Every child here should be taught and told...., mai sai nam tan and/or maow nam tan. With an occasional exception. Then they need a 75 minute time out each day from anything electronic and be forced to at least walk 2 KM at a brisk pace, under time. Watch those kilos melt off in a year.

[Johnnie99]

Why does the picture chosen show a Western child?

Can they not find a picture of a fat Thai child? Maybe they could open their eyes!

[Johnnie99]

And can I just ask what this nonsense about drinking milk is all about?

Milk only provides the resources for strength in bones and other parts requiring calcium. It does not raise IQ, make one taller, slimmer ... where on earth do you people get these folk-remedy ideas?

[jucel]

My daughter gets milk everyday at school (uht), and then at the end of each term she gets 2 big cases for the holiday periods.

I also give her fresh milk most mornings mixed with porridge oats, a pinch of iodized salt & some honey. I think that is a decent breakfast.

Luckily, I look after her alone, so she doesn't have much thai influence in terms of diet, apart from school! The teachers always ask me to give her pocket money so she can buy snacks/sweets, but I smile and tell them I don't want her to have too much sugar. They look at me like I'm the devil but I don't really care.

The only treats I tend to give her are ice creams & the occasional bag of crisps. At the weekend she can have 1 bottle of something fizzy, but generally she drinks water/ robinsons squash/milk.

[jucel]

This is what's expected when your staple diet comes from daily dining at 7 Eleven.

I made a conscious effort to find nutritional/non sugar laden items in 7/11. The only things I could find were overpriced boiled eggs & packaged overpriced fruit.

Edited June 8, 2014 by jucel

[crazygreg44]

Though I fully agree with the article that the kids have to eat more healthy and do more sports, I always think it's strange that the government want to promote milk so badly but the prices are 110% higher than my country in europe... than I still not talk about the taste of milk here

of course they mean SOYMILK - the national school milk distribution ( Lactosoy , never seen their ads ? )

[jucel]

On a bit of a tangent, but can somebody tell me why most foodstuffs' ingredients don't add up to 100%??!!

[sumtingwong]

Low IQ kids are a problem all over the world, not just Thailand. IMO, it is because low IQ people over breed.

[cmiuc]

I think this article is a waste...

For some reason we affliate overweight as being stupid... I am an computer programmar, engineer, teacher... and i am overweight and I don't feel my IQ..quite high infact...

Another fact... countries who live around the equator tend to have more high weight then other countries... maybe because of lack of motivation due to the heat... (Mexico, India, (exclude Africa because they are all on poverty levels), Thailand, Malay, Indo..)

Then Low Thai IQ's .... not because of OW..but because the schools are lazy to teach... go sit in a thai classroom with fan rooms and tell me if you have any feeling to learn...not to mention the continual blubbering of the thai teacher who just teaches the same lesson for most of the school career lives... no student interaction, just talk, copy homework... (copying in this country is such an outrage)...(China as well). No punishment for copying... so why do the students need to work hard?

To wake up this country... bring back discipline to the classroom, fire lazy teachers with the pensions, and then when you motivate the student's learning skills then everything else will kick in... but just to speak of it without action... is a pure waste of time.

again everything here said is my observation of this system and my opinion.

[anon467367354]

I see alot of things here.

Lack of exercise from watching TV and playing games.

Pregnant women that eat monosodiumglutamate have smaller children.

With all the meat kids eat today I have no doubt acidosis is prevalent thus the expelling of calcium from the body,

this goes even more for the huge amount of phosphoric acid kids take in with drinking soda.

Studies have shown that kids IQ's drop over the summer in the absence of a learning atmosphere, which is everyday here.

To be fat here for some reason seems to be a long time cultural thing that you must be rich therefore accepted.

Quit selling crap to kids and teach the difference between something being sold to be put in your mouth and food.

Kids are taught to stay out of the sun for fear of having dark skin which is considered low class thus the lack of Vitamin D.

Synthetic vitamin D in milk is not the same and the milk proteins expel calcium from the body as well as create food allergies.

[upena]

Basketball makes you taller? And, all this time I thought it was genetics.

[crazygreg44]

And can I just ask what this nonsense about drinking milk is all about?

Milk only provides the resources for strength in bones and other parts requiring calcium. It does not raise IQ, make one taller, slimmer ... where on earth do you people get these folk-remedy ideas?

seems a lot of readers tend to believe the milk mentioned is cowmilk.

No . .if THAIS write about "milk" and in terms of school-distributed milk, they mean SOYMILK.

Ever seen the tens-of-thousands of Lactosoy containers in the supermarkets ?? The small 80ml boxes with a plastic straw ?

Soymilk has indeed very different nutritional values than cowmilk . . . . plus the minerals added, soymilk makes a little good for the many mistakes most parents commit in feeding their kids.

I have no container at hand at the moment to certify, but I think they add minerals like iodium and calcium to the soymilk. Both minerals are said to have a positive effect on brain growth.

But since the elementary thai school system is so profoundedly in disfavour for children, nobody really learns anything useful, which keeps distorting the overall picture of the average IQ in Thailand. If you stick together with people that had a foreign school education or been abroad for studying, you would see them en par with other nations.

Edited June 8, 2014 by crazygreg44

[sumtingwong]

[IamNoone88]

You can always improve your diet and exercise at any age. But that is not much use when faced with the larger problem - Laziness.

[doorframe]

"research - supported by Foremost milk manufacturer FrieslandCampina"

"children should exercise regularly, eat healthy and drink milk daily"

hmmmm, really?

I would have thought children in SE Asia were drinking more milk today an they ever have before.

[Darocm]

We're all adults here. If we grab smokes or alcohol it's our choice. So is the choice of food/diet for us and our kids. Don't ban anything - just think wisely while shopping.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies deleted along with troll posts and few which are simply giving incorrect information.

IMO, the study is probably a legitimate study. A lot of companies commission studies and a good study doesn't predict the outcome, but the company does own the study and they may well chose to publish or not publish the study. The OP also says that children should drink milk. It doesn't address the situation with adults.

Milk, to the best of my knowledge, can't raise your IQ, but proper nutrition can prevent some types of mental impairment.

I've worked in many, many countries and the main correlation I've seen with obesity is money. As poorer countries become richer, they become fatter. There are a few exceptions, but my years in Thailand have shown that since the disposable income has increased, so has the level of obesity.

[Grindting]

Quite a selfish attitude but when I see the kids around Indonesia and my wife's family and extended families kids I just think to myself when our kids have graduated in the uk, should they ever decide to go to the wife's country to work they will continue to be big fish in a small pond just like their dad was 25 years prior, and able to make a huge whack for themselves, and being half Indonesian they'll rule the roost. Keep them stupid for all I care

[Prbkk]

Surely the key thing is balance. Thais are genetically programmed for a high intake of carbohydrate ( by consuming rice for 5,000 years). They are NOT adapted to overlaying that carb intake with mega loads of sugar from introduced western junk. To add a further load of carb from much higher milk consumption would create more problems. A balance of traditional diet with added dairy seems sensible, but only if the junk sugar, potato, crap carbs get the flick. This is a crisis for Thailand's future generations ( and today's kids)

[bigdickmary]

IQ test over time have been normed quite a bit. If a person performed exactly the same on the exact same IQ test now vs. 50 years ago, their score would be lower now.

Maybe we have reached an information tipping point. The world had become smarter thanks to the availability of information coupled with an increase in observation. Now with everyone holding their face to some electronic device and being spoon fed junk food, we may regress.

[casualbiker]

In about 30 years we are going to be talking about how we possibly ever let food production turn our population so unhealthy.

Here is the best diet - Don't eat or drink anything that has its own commercial. When was the last time you heard about a commercial for lettuce, or celery?

Here ya go. Lettuce commercial

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Mister Fixit]

Banning the sale of junk food and running the fast food companies out of the country would be a good start to a more healthy bunch of kids.

And reducing the dreadful habit that many Thais have of ladling extra sugar onto food, adding it to the dreadful excuse for bread they have here and generally going back to what is, in essence, a healthier diet than the Western model.

If I ever become resurrected, I want to come back as a Thai dentist!