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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Junk food rules canteen

Junk food rules canteen

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published Published on Jan 29, 2011   modified Modified on Jan 29, 2011

A survey has confirmed apprehensions among health experts that school canteens in India’s metros expose kids overwhelmingly to junk food, while healthy options are largely absent from the menu.

The survey of canteens in 20 private schools across the National Capital Region suggests that burgers, patties, and packaged foods such as chips are among the most sold in canteens, and fresh cooked food the least popular.

Nutrition specialists say the findings, although based on a small sample of 200 students from a single region, may be extrapolated to other metros and explain the obesity trends among adolescents. Medical studies conducted over the past decade have indicated that 10-20 per cent of school-going teenagers in India are obese.

The survey by a team of doctors and a non-government health advocacy group found that nine in 10 school canteens sold biscuits and chips, and while 65 per cent of canteens sold aerated soft drinks, one in two also offered buttermilk.

The findings suggest that while some schools already appear sensitised to the health concerns associated with junk food, there’s no regulatory drive to alter habits. “We find a big gap between intention and implementation,” said Sanjeev Bagai, a consultant paediatrician in New Delhi, who presented the findings at a national seminar yesterday on food options in school canteens.

The survey revealed that high proportions of school canteens sold samosas (95 per cent), patties (80 per cent), noodles (75 per cent) and aerated drinks (65 per cent). But 55 per cent also sold buttermilk and 30 per cent sold lassi.

But a study just completed by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in Hyderabad suggests that health education interventions may correct food habits and even bring about changes in the body weight patterns rather quickly.

An NIN team interacted with parents, school administrators and canteen owners, reaching out with lessons in healthy food options to about 1,200 students in 10 schools across Hyderabad over eight months. “We saw the average body mass index for boys reduce from 0.2 higher than normal to 0.2 below normal. In girls, it dropped from 0.3 above normal to 0.1 above normal,” said Avula Laxmaiah, the deputy director of community studies at the NIN.

About one in five overweight students also slipped into the category of normal weight at the end of the eight months, Laxmaiah said, presenting the results of the study supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Some school administrators say they offer cooked food and fruit-breaks. “The children get rice and rajma (kidney beans) and we have a 10-minute fruit break everyday,” said Madhu Chandra, principal of Noida’s Lotus Valley School.

“We need national school canteen guidelines that should percolate down to states and districts,” said Bagai.

A pair of nutrition specialists at the seminar released a list of ideal school snacks — whole meal breads or whole grain cereals, rice and vegetables or pulses, sandwiches with vegetables and low-fat cheese, boiled or steamed corn cobs, roasted unsalted nuts, low salt soups with vegetables and whole fruit.

Between 2003 and 2005, California signed a set of policies to eliminate sodas and restrict the sale of junk foods in California’s public schools. Three years after the California policies came into effect, a rising trend in the number of overweight children was seen to have reduced in the seventh class, though this was not seen in other classes.

The Telegraph, 30 January, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110130/jsp/nation/story_13510684.jsp


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