In many countries today, the eating habit and lifestyle of children are different from those of previous generations. Some people say this does more harm than good. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

It has recently been suggested that the way children eat and live nowadays has led to a deterioration in their health. I entirely agree with this view, and believe that this alarming situation has come about for several reasons. To begin with, there is the worrying increase in the amount of processed food that children are eating at home, with little or none of the fresh fruit and vegetables that earlier generations ate every day. Secondly, more and more young people are choosing to eat in fast-food restaurants, which may be harmless occasionally, but not every day. What they eat there is extremely high in fat, salt and sugar, all of which can be damaging to their health. There is also a disturbing decline in the amount of exercise they get. Schools have become obsessed with exams, with the shocking result that some pupils now do no sports at all. To make matters worse, few even get any exercise on the way to and from school, as most of them go in their parents’ cars rather than walk or cycle. Finally, children are spending far more time at home, playing computer games, watching TV or surfing the Internet. They no longer play outside with friends or take part in challenging outdoor activities. To sum up, although none of these changes could, on its own, have caused widespread harm to children’s health, there can be little doubt that all of them together have had a devastating effect. This, in my opinion, can only be reversed by encouraging children to return to move traditional ways of eating and living.