A survey recently released by China Youth Research Center at the International Conference on "Intercultural Dialogue: Youth Education" shows that with the development of economy and the improvement of material life, the food quality of urban children in China has been greatly improved, but the problems of emotional eating, fast food eating and "junk food" among primary and secondary school students are also prominent.
When investigating the causes of these problems, it shows that social environment, economic situation and parents' behavior have certain influence on children's bad eating habits to some extent. Among them, the proportion of students with rich families who eat "foreign fast food" and health products (nutrients and supplements) every day is significantly higher than that of students with poor families.
Snacks have a high proportion of "junk food".
The survey found that 95% of urban primary and secondary school students eat snacks, and only 2.3% never eat snacks. Candy and chocolate are children's favorite snacks, as well as cookies, cakes and other desserts and dried fruits such as melon seeds and peanuts. It is particularly noteworthy that "junk food" announced by the World Health Organization, such as barbecue or fried food such as instant noodles and mutton kebabs, has also become children's snacks, accounting for 3 1.3%, 30.4% and 34. 1% respectively.
More than 80% of urban primary and secondary school students like to eat "foreign fast food"
McDonald's, KFC ... these "foreign fast food" are widely welcomed by children. 43.6% children eat "foreign fast food" every month, among which 6. 1% children eat "several times a week" and "almost every day". Holidays, birthdays, good test scores, getting together with classmates and eating "foreign fast food" have become 30% to 40% choices for children. In addition, the younger the children, the higher their love for foreign fast food, with 25.5% of middle school students and 43% of primary school students saying that they like foreign fast food very much.
Irregular eating, missed meals or emotional eating are all serious.
The most important breakfast in a day is easily overlooked or omitted. According to the survey, only 77% of the children eat breakfast every day, while the remaining 23% eat it most of the time (15%), seldom eat it (7.3%) and never eat it (0.6%). The result of skipping breakfast usually makes it difficult for children to concentrate and affects their learning efficiency in the morning. Time is not enough, you are not hungry or don't want to eat, you don't want to eat because of trouble, you don't care if you eat or not, you don't like breakfast, and you save money. Irregular eating is also manifested in the fact that 45.7% of families "eat irregularly at home".
Usually eat too fast.
With the intensification of social modernization, the pace of urban life is getting faster and faster. Not only adults are busy, but even children are eager to eat. The survey found that primary and secondary school students generally eat too fast, especially breakfast and lunch. 20.3% of the respondents finished their breakfast within 5 minutes, and 85.5% of the children could finish their breakfast within 15 minutes. Lunch is also a quick victory. 18.3% of the children finished their lunch in 10 minutes, and 72.5% finished their lunch in 20 minutes. Only dinner can be a little leisurely, but nearly half of the children finish dinner in 20 minutes.
Nutritionists believe that a child's meal should be no less than 20 minutes. Eating too fast will make the food not fully chewed, which will not only increase the digestive burden of the gastrointestinal tract, but also reduce the proportion of food nutrition digestion and absorption, and will not arouse children's interest in diet. Eating too fast can easily lead to overeating and obesity.
Experts point out that these bad eating habits are harmful to children's growth. Childhood is the peak of life development. During this period, the intake of nutrients not only needs to maintain the body's metabolism, but also needs to be stored in moderation to ensure the demand for sustainable growth and development. Once this important period is missed, it will cause irreparable losses to children's physical development and healthy growth.
How to make children develop correct eating habits? Relevant experts believe that parents should first give their children nutrition with a reasonable dietary structure, and should not blindly eat big fish and big meat, "a handful of vegetables and beans, an egg with some meat"; Secondly, increase the amount of activities, do more activities and exercise actively; The third is to control the intake of children's snacks. (End)