Mamma che fame!
Comprendere e prevenire l’obesità del bambino

by Mirella Cerato

Feeding children in the country that invented the ‘Mediterranean diet’ should be simple and natural. Yet this book reveals a complex situation, tackling a problem that has now become Italian as well: childhood obesity. The book analyses the factors and responsibilities leading to wrong dietary habits that become harmful over time. The delicate maternal role is sorely tested by changing cultural contexts with uncertain values that are often conditioned by economic rather than social policies – to the detriment of the needs and time frames essential for parents in order to raise happy and healthy children. The data, examples and case studies, both Italian and international, demonstrate that the problem of childhood obesity is not limited to genetic and psychological reasons, as it also involves family life, the community and the presence (or lack) of appropriate health and childhood policies. The author gives readers the chance to gain the awareness they need to find possible answers. At the same time, however, the race against time has begun: childhood obesity has become a significant health, social and economic problem. The author’s reconstructions and critical observations identify the serious repercussions on both physical and mental health, and the socialization of obese children, teens and adults. Along these lines, the study pays special attention – and rethinks – the role of mothers, which means intervening with prevention. The wrong diet is indubitably stimulated by today’s models of consumption and wherewithal, but the book explains that raising an obese child unfortunately engenders other disadvantages.