Hong Kong aims to trim obesity at schools
August 28 2006 at 09:48AM
Hong Kong - Thousands of Hong Kong children returned to school on Monday to find themselves confronted by healthier lunches in a major drive to cut rising rates of obesity in the wealthy city.
Lunch contractors serving meals to 400 000 children in 500 primary schools have been urged by the government to serve up healthier food after studies found nearly one in five children in Hong Kong are now obese.
Obesity levels have risen from 16,4 percent of children in 1997 to 18,7 percent last year, according to department of health figures, and a study earlier this year found only one in 10 snacks eaten at primary schools could be classified as healthy.
The findings reflect a growing obesity epidemic in the former British colony whose population of 6,8 million do little exercise, live in high-rise flats and eat an increasingly Westernised diet.
'... we have been seeing a rising trend of obesity'
The growing popularity of fast food as people switch from traditional rice-based diets to hamburgers, fried chicken and French fries has been named as one of the major factors.
To counter the trend, a 64-page guidebook featuring 30 low-fat recipes with ingredients such as vegetables, bean curd and leafy vegetables has been distributed to lunch contractors to try to encourage them to serve up healthier food.
Department of health assistant director Regina Ching said: "We have been monitoring our primary school students for their body weight and height, and for the past seven or eight years we have been seeing a rising trend of obesity.
"If parents don't pay attention, their children will get fatter and fatter... you may get diabetes and the possibility of an early onset of heart disease and stroke as well as being prone to some forms of cancer."
Ching pointed out that the problem of obesity was a much larger cause of death in Hong Kong than the 2003 Sars epidemic which led to the deaths of 299 people.
The guidelines issued to school contractors are voluntary but Ching said she hoped parents would exercise their power as consumers by demanding healthier food in schools.
The growth in the girths of Hong Kong children coincides with an increasing tendency for parents to have only one child.
The territory's birth rate is one of the world's lowest with women having an average of only 0,9 children. - Sapa-dpa
Childhood Obesity in Hong Kong
Linear Mode
