Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 20th Question: About one out of every five primary and middle school students has a "chubby" student. Pay attention to these.
Xu Penghang
The quality of life has improved and the level of nutrition has improved, but there are more and more "chubby piers" around. Nutrition and health is an eternal topic during the growth of children and adolescents. May 20th is China Student Nutrition Day. What is the nutritional status of Chinese students? What harm can overweight and obesity bring? How to eat to be healthier?
Grow taller and gain weight.
The Scientific Research Report on Dietary Guidelines for Residents in China (2021) (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") shows that the nutritional status and physique of Chinese residents have improved significantly, the dietary quality has improved, the food structure has changed, and the nutritional deficiency of residents has been fundamentally improved. The growth retardation rate and low body weight rate of children under 5 years old have dropped to 4.8% and 1.9% respectively, which has achieved the preset goals of the 2020 plan. The anemia rate and vitamin A deficiency rate of children and adolescents have decreased significantly, and the nutritional status has improved significantly.
With the improvement of nutrition level, the height of children and adolescents in China has increased significantly. In the past 30 years, the height of boys and girls aged 6-17 has increased in all age groups, with an average height increase of 3cm every 10 years.
However, there are more "chubby piers" around. The data show that the overweight and obesity rates of children and adolescents under 6 years old and 6-17 years old in China reach 10.4% and 19.0% respectively, which is equivalent to nearly one "chubby pier" for every five primary and secondary school students. The problem of overweight and obesity of children and adolescents needs urgent attention.
The consumption rate of sugary milk drinks is 30%, which is one of the "culprits" of obesity.
Statistics show that the sales volume of sugary drinks is increasing year by year, and the consumption rates of sugary milk drinks and drinks for children and adolescents are above 30% and 25% respectively.
The report shows that although the intake level of added sugar among Chinese residents is not high, as the main source of added sugar, the proportion of consumers of sugary drinks and their consumption are on the rise rapidly. The consumption rate of sugary drinks among children and adolescents is higher than that of adults, which should be paid enough attention to.
Experts suggest that high sugar intake has become the main risk factor of obesity and diabetes in adolescents, and controlling sugar intake in adolescents is the key to promote the healthy growth of adolescents. According to statistics, the prevalence of hypertension in obese children and adolescents is 4.0 times of normal weight.
Balanced diet with reduced oil and salt
Chronic diseases are closely related to long-term dietary imbalance and excessive intake of oil and salt.
The data show that high salt intake is still widespread in China, and the average salt intake for household cooking is 9.3 grams per person per day, which drops by 2 grams every ten years, but it is still higher than the recommended value of < 5 grams.
In addition, high fat intake is also an important factor causing overweight and obesity. According to a survey conducted by the Nutrition Society of China, the top 10 dishes that are often bought for eating out and selling out are mostly fried food and animal dishes. People who mainly eat out and eat out for a long time have the problems of excessive consumption of oil and salt and unreasonable dietary structure.
Ding Gangqiang, vice chairman of the Nutrition Society of China and director of the Institute of Nutrition and Health of China CDC, suggested that reasonable diet, reducing the intake of livestock meat, smoked meat, salt, oil, added sugar and alcohol, and increasing the intake of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, eggs, seafood, milk, beans and nuts are beneficial to health.
Increase physical activity to achieve "eating balance"
Exercise plays an important role in human energy balance. To maintain a healthy weight, we should not only have a reasonable diet, but also strengthen exercise and maintain a "balance of eating".
The report shows that insufficient physical activity can lead to excessive weight gain, and more physical activity is not only conducive to maintaining a healthy weight, but also to reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, improving brain health and improving attention.
"Exercise is not a dietary suggestion, but it plays an important role in energy balance and weight maintenance." Ding Gangqiang said.
Ding Gangqiang introduced that most countries recommend exercising for 30 minutes a day or 150 minutes a week, and some countries (such as South Africa) also believe that each exercise should be no less than 10 minutes.
It is reported that the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the outline of the long-term goal in 2035 specifically propose to implement the nutrition improvement plan for preschool children, effectively control children’s obesity and myopia, ensure school physical education class and extracurricular exercise time, and carry out national physical fitness monitoring and intervention with emphasis on teenagers.
