HCM CITY(VNS)— More timely intervention and better communication between parents and schools could help in the fight against childhood obesity, according to experts who spoke at a conference in HCM City yesterday.
Research conducted by the HCM City Nutrition Centre shows that obesity was at its highest in children aged 36-53 months and six to nine years.
For children under five years old, the rate rose three times in 2010 compared to 2000.
According to other research findings by the Viet Nam Nutrition Association, 21.9 per cent of 2,375 children four to nine years old in Ha Noi’s Hoan Kiem District in 2012 were overweight. Eighteen per cent were obese.
The rate is higher among boys than among girls, said Dr Truong Tuyet Mai of the association.
The rate of high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) and low HDL cholesterol known as the “good” cholesterol in these children was 15.3 per cent, 30.7 per cent, 12.6 per cent and 5.3 per cent, respectively.
Vu Quynh Hoa of the HCM City Nutrition Centre and Association for Food and Nutrition said research showed that school-based nutrition intervention was successful in helping to prevent weight problems in primary school children in the 2012-13 academic year.
Of 2,481 children at two primary schools in the city’s inner and outlying districts, 43.5 per cent were overweight or obese at the beginning of the school year.
The number fell to 37.8 per cent six months after the nutrition intervention was carried out, she added.
Parents and children were taught about proper nutrition and the need for physical activities, Hoa said, adding that training courses for teachers were also held.
Dr Phan Nguyen Thanh Binh of the centre said the city’s Department of Education and Training helped the centre carry out the school nutrition project.
The programme was one of six major projects in the Implementation Plan of the National Strategy on Nutrition for the 2011-15 period, he said.
The aim is to create standardised menus for primary school students in HCM City that meet recommended nutrition requirements.
At the conference, Professor Le Thi Hop, head of the Viet Nam Nutrition Association, said she was worried about the increased number of fast-food restaurants opening in the country, particularly in large cities such as Ha Noi and HCM City.
She said that such restaurants had contributed to the obesity problem, especially for children from pre-school through high school age. The problem exists in both urban and rural areas, she added.
Viet Nam has become a hot market for fast-food chains and restaurants.
In 2009, fast food turnover nationwide was VND500 billion (US$23.8 million). It rose to VND869 billion ($41.38 million) in 2010 and VND870 billion ($41.4 million) in 2011.
Many of the customers at fast-food restaurants and shops are children of school age and people aged 19 to 30—VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News