Spanish families with low economic resources They have enormous difficulties in providing their children with a balanced and healthy diet. In practice, this means that almost one in five children who belong to households with lower incomes suffer childhood obesitywhich represents a worrying beginning in the deterioration of health at an early age that may worsen in the future.
Tackling this social problem is one of the objectives of the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030. This Thursday, in the complete presentation of the ALADINO study (Food, Physical Activity, Child Development and Obesity) prepared by the aforementioned ministry, the minister Pablo Bustinduy has advanced that the Royal Decree on school cafeterias that it is preparing together with other ministries will urge all schools to offer fruit and vegetables every day and will prohibit the consumption of sugary drinks during meals.
The Government regulation will ensure in the same way that all school cafeterias, regardless of their ownership, offer quality meat and fishand to increase the amount of legumes and cereals in their menus.
Bustinduy has stated that schools play a very important role to ensure that students have access to a balanced and quality diet because in an “advanced economy like the Spanish one”, the diet and health of boys and girls “it cannot depend on where you are born”.
This is also reflected in the ALADINO study, which collects data from more than 12,600 children between 6 and 9 years old in almost 300 public and private schools throughout Spain, which indicates that 49.5% of students usually eat their main meal in the dining roomand 54% have breakfast daily at the center itself.
The report also states that the majority of families (70.4%) understand that the school cafeteria makes it easier for your children to have a healthy dietdespite the fact that only a third of families consider that the food served in their schools is of quality.
The lower the income, the greater the child’s overweight
The report makes it clear that the problem of childhood obesity is especially worrying in families that earn less than 18,000 euros a year, where Childhood overweight affects almost half (46.7%) of children who are part of these households, compared to the 29.2% registered in those who belong to families with incomes greater than 30,000 euros.
In these households with incomes of less than 18,000 euros, the data indicate that minors consume less fruits and vegetables daily than those belonging to families that earn more than 30,000 euros (36.4% compared to 53.6% and 19.2% compared to 29.3%, respectively) and that they eat something more than a drink for breakfast less times a day (61% compared to 78%). Furthermore, children from low-income families with low income They consume eight times more sugary drinks.
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