Santa Claus is too Unhealthy

Summary
18 December 2009

An Australian scientist writing in the British Medical Journal thinks Father Christmas is a bad role model for children because he is very fat and drinks too much alcohol.

Reporter:
Janet Barrie

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REPORT

Father Christmas should get off his sleigh and walk, lay off the mince pies and go easy on the beer and brandy, says research from the University of Monash in Melbourne. Santa Claus, it says, is one of the most widely recognised figures in the world, and it's about time he started looking after his health, because he's a terrible role model.

The traditional image of him as a jolly little man with a fat belly promotes the view that obese people are happy. The research isn't intended entirely seriously says Nathan Grills, the scientist behind it, but there's still a good point to make about public health.

Equally worrying he says is the vast amount of alcohol Santa consumes on his rounds. All the beer, brandy and sherry left out for him in a billion homes worldwide, it says, must mean he's in no fit state to drive his sleigh. In fact, says the research, he should abandon it altogether and find a healthier way to deliver presents - like jogging. If that wasn't bad enough, the study says Santa's habits warrant closer scrutiny. More research is needed, it says, before it pronounces him a true public health menace.


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VOCABULARY

> get off his sleigh
stop using his sleigh (a sleigh is a kind of basic transport, pulled by Arctic animals, reindeer)

> lay off
stop doing something (here, eating)

> go easy on
not do something (here, drinking alcohol) as much as he usually does

> a terrible role model
not a very good example for people (here, young children)

> belly
(informal) stomach

> obese
very fat

> on his rounds
on the route (going from house to house around the world) which Santa makes each year

> he's in no fit state
he is not capable or fit to do something

> warrant closer scrutiny
should be examined in more detail

> menace
threat or danger


Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2009/12/091218_witn_santa.shtml