The Government wants to ban sugary drinks in school cafeterias. The regulations on which the Government is working to tackle childhood obesity, a particularly pressing problem in children from families with lower incomes, will prohibit the consumption of sugary drinks during meals in educational centers, where only water will be served.
The royal decree on school cafeterias that the Government is preparing will contemplate these measures and will also urge centers to offer fresh fruits and vegetables daily for all boys and girls, as indicated by the Minister of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, Pablo Bustinduy, in the presentation of the Aladino 2023 study on Nutrition, Physical Activity, Child Development and Obesity.
The study, which has been developed from a sample of 12,678 schoolchildren between 6 and 9 years old from 296 schools in all the autonomous communities, emphasizes the inequality in nutrition between classes.
Although excess weight in schoolchildren of this age has generally decreased by 4.5% in the last four years, Aladino points out that it continues to affect one in three minors (36.1%). And this improvement in the data on childhood obesity (15.9%) and overweight (20.2%) has not been perceived in families with lower incomes (the limit is set at 18,000 euros), among which excess weight rises to 46.7%. This prevalence, Bustinduy has stressed, has remained constant since 2011.
As causes of this situation, the data obtained illustrate that, in families that earn less than 18,000 euros, students have a lower daily consumption of fruits and vegetables than those belonging to families that earn more than 30,000 euros (36.4% vs. . 53.6% and 19.2% vs. 29.3%, respectively). Also, this student body is the one that eats something more than a drink for breakfast the least every day (61% compared to 78%). On the contrary, children from families with lower incomes multiply their consumption of sugary drinks eightfold, specifically 7.8% drink them more than three days a week compared to 0.9%.
Pablo Bustinduy has established that one of the objectives of the Royal Decree will be to transfer to all school cafeterias the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO) with regard to child nutrition. In addition to guaranteeing the daily consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and avoiding the consumption of sugary drinks at meals, the standard will also ensure that all school cafeterias, regardless of their ownership, offer quality meat and fish, and increase the quantity of legumes and cereals in their menus. The minister also recalled that the Royal Decree will focus on short production circuits and local foods to access more sustainable, quality products that promote local economies.
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