Majority of Poland's kids physically unfit, claims PPA.

"Over 90% of Polish children suffer from various developmental defects and ailments, almost one-in-four (have) chronic diseases and a majority of kids are physically unfit, according to the Polish Paediatric Association (PPA)."

thenews.pl/national/artykul133407_majority-of-polands-kids-physically-unfit--claim-doctors.html

I know there are some teachers on this forum. Can you confirm this? Any own thoughts about the causes? It sounds pretty alarming. Or is it just a kind of a "Daily Mail"-story ... lots of shouting but nothing behind it?

Its probably true....now that Macdonalds and computer games have reached Poland , they will get the same problems we have in the UK...It does not suprise me....

I've heard that the current generation in the US is the first generation that will live shorter than the generation before ... I do hope Poland won't follow that example. But if it is true what the Polish Paediatric Association says, then it doesn't look well.

Thats a high figure..which I would find hard to believe.


What are these?


Admittedly its been 4 years since I was in Poland, but I didnt see gross amounts of chubby little feckers waddling about like I do in the UK.


I think Polish parents suffer from hypochondria by proxi behaviour and take their kids to the ER/doctors more than they need to.

It's true.

In many parts of the world people starve to death. In other parts of the world people are literary eating themselves to death.


Not true. I just had a med school rotation in the pediatric hospital.

I dunno ... I just copied it from the article


Would that account for the huge number of ads on Polish tele for medicins? There is always some guy with a headache, or some woman with bowel problems ... :-S

I see a back specialist. She recently told me that she went to a gymnasium school and only around 20% of kids had good posture.

God knows, but my mates wife takes their kid to the ER if he has a sniffle/temp..when calpul would do the trick..Its always a really big drama!


Then the article isn't giving the full facts and kids suffer from all sorts when growing up..and defect could mean they need to wear glasses or they have fallen arches..both of which can be corrected before they reach adulthood and neither are life threatening...Why are we so bothered in the UK about Polish kids in Poland? What makes it so news worthy?

Well ... I am not in the UK, I am sorry. Maybe cause it's a forum about "POLAND AND POLISH NEWS LIVE" (see the white letters in the red bar at the top of the homepage)? Just an idea ... .

I wasnt talking about you, I was talking about the article...calm down! Im sure that news papers in Spain dont print articles on Brits being binge drinkers in the UK...that was my point...

The article is from News.pl, Polish news about Poland...

Looks like the american lifestyle has taken over poland:)

Not even close..As I said, I was there 4 years ago and didnt see ONE fat kid..

SzwedwPolsce
[quote]In many parts of the world people starve to death. In other parts of the world people are literary eating themselves to death.[quote]

People don't eat anymore in the States than they used to, it's just the wrong stuff. When I was a kid it was meat and potatoes, now it's pasta, pasta, pasta and High fructose corn syrup in everything. Too many sugars and carbs.

I guess you are right. People mostly eat processed foods (look at the colour on the average dinner table - if people take the trouble to sit down and eat together at all - it's all light brown ... can't be right). People say it's quick, and cheaper than healthy food, but I guess it's just "penny wise, pound foolish". In the long run, you just have higher medical bills. And if we as parents give the wrong example to our children, then I think nothing will change.

You can buy 2 hamburgers at the McDonalds for 2 euros. And what can you buy in the supermarket for 2 euros? Nothing that makes us feel "satisfied", i.e. which gives us the feeling we've had enough to eat.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm not some health guru gnawing on salad leaves all day like some deranged rabbit ... there is nothing wrong with some "comfort food" once in a while.

But the scary thing is, that we are in fact killing our kids with a bad diet. Everybody is outraged when they see videos of 4 or even 2-yr olds smoking cigarettes and we question the "parenting skills" <ahum> of these parents. But if we keep feeding all this processed stuff to our kids, which in fact makes them live shorter than us, aren't we in a way just as culpable?

Just a question ... . Any thoughts ... ?

Over 90% in nonsense, and perhaps is motivated by the alarming reports in the news for more doctors. Read on.

Parents are doing a serious disservice to their kids by "aranging" notes from doctors that excuse kids in school from Physical Ed., and turning them into cellphone texting robots incapable of concentrating for more than ten seconds, well only enough to send, check, send ...

Three year old kids in prams is a crime also.

If you count the calories, they eat more for sure.

And the gain/loss balance of calories is severely disturbed. E.g. when people drive car to their friend 300 meters from their home.

Ridiculous claim.Poles were judged by US in the beginning of 20th century as being able for hard manual work in the coal mines opposite to the Italian immigrants.On the other hand I noticed in my first visit in Poland lots of dwarfs and people with genetic diseases of the kind that you don't meet in the West but I attributed it to the lack of prenatal control during communism.

Wrong, people are lazy or have too much expendable income and therein lies the problem - It's amzaing how creative you can get with some rice, potatoes or lentals..if you need to be.

90% is a sensationalist percentage.

Im not teacher but its nothing new. I have backbone scoliosis like 90% of Poles (but what I heard skoliosis despite of popular myth, in fakt isnt connected with lack of sport activity).

Mind that physically unfit doesnt mean fat. I'm not fit and I'm on the verge of underweight according to my BMI.

And this isnt a new phenomenom. These statistic can apply to my generation either.


What??? And what they have said about Serbs?

Btw Southern no woman in Poland would be intrested with such a psycho like you. You dont have girlfriend thats why you are constatntly sitting here and writing those chauvinistic, sexistic nonsense all the time, disrespecting polish women... and somethimes polish nation.


Excuse me? What?? You never been in Poland southern... I've already known that.

Zetigrek, I am very sorry to hear that and I do hope you don't have too many problems with your back. No, you are right. Scoliosis has nothing to do with lack of PE, but has most likely to do with genetic factors.

Maybe your assertion explains the high percentage ... it does make very good sense.

Thank you for your concern. I'm ok dont feel any sides effect of it. Maybe its because it not severe scoliosis :)


Well I think those statistic are true. I have problems jogging for 5 minutes... and its nothing unusual in my generation. Also the things about not attending on PE lessons are true. Its a major problem.

It is the opposite.Polish women are more psycho than me.

don't be ridiculous.
For such a long distance they first stop at a gas station to make sure they have enough in the tank to make it back home. And that will make it more than 300 meters. If they stop by MacDonalds that adds to the distance And when they pump gas it's exercise. After all they have to push a button, and sometimes even lift a lever.

Of course he has shorty.

I saw that in 2002.Now you don't see neglected diseases often.

Yeah. They successfully killed off all the dwarves and genetic freaks in the last 8 years. :->

I really don't know what happened.But I always liked the strange things you can see in Poland.For me Balkans is rockabilly Poland is psychedelic.

Maybe Charnobyl??? LOL


Maybe there was a world dwarf convention taking place in Poland... and they forgot to invite you? ;P

I saw a lot of things much worse than dwarfs in the area affected by Chernobyl....I usually take photos of the places i go to , but the stuff i saw in the kids homes in Belarus was not something i wanted to remember....