Students' health suffers from poor diet

Chinese students aged 10 to 13 are in grave physical condition due to poor diet and lack of exercise, according to a report.

The report, released by China Development Research Foundation in 2011, found that malnutrition was affecting 12 percent of students in poverty-stricken areas.

Roughly 12 percent of the children in those areas were also short for their age, and 9 percent were underweight because of nutritional deficiencies.

Fast food has become a major health threat for urban students. The latest research by the Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that the number of primary and secondary school students who ate fast food at least once a week in urban areas increased from 1.9 percent in 1998 to 16.3 percent in 2008.

According to a report by the Ministry of Education and the General Administration of Sport in 2010, the health of young people aged 7 to 19 deteriorated from 2000 to 2010. The obesity rate increased by 50 percent and the rate of nearsightedness rose from 20 percent to 31 percent.

"Growing junk food consumption is the reason for the increase in obesity among students," said Hu Xiaoqi, a researcher at the food safety institute.

Hu said some urban schools give box lunches to children that are less tasty than hot meals served at school canteens, so the students just throw the box meal away and fill their empty stomachs with junk food.

"Urban schools should operate their canteens well and provide better food for children," Hu said.

Although education authorities are striving to provide better nutrition for rural children, implementation of such programs is not satisfactory.

"Some attempts to provide children with milk and eggs still aren't working because rural children are not used to the taste. Some children even throw the eggs into rubbish bins when the teachers aren't watching," Hu said.

Lack of exercise is another serious factor.

During this year's sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, CPPCC member Yang Hua urged the education authority to strengthen physical education in classes.

Yang said that the physical education regulations have been in place for 20 years without any amendments, so it was time to issue new ones.

He called on the education authority to create more physical exercise courses in schools and revise the old regulations. He also urged governments at all levels to provide cheaper and better exercise facilities at public gymnasiums.

Contact the writers at chengyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn and liyao@chinadaily.com.cn