Menu for Health

In our super-sized world, there are more obese children than ever before.
Dr. Rivera directed a revealing study on feeding habits and associated lifestyles of overweight children from Puerto Rico’s second-grade state schools. The findings demonstrate that 24.2% of that population is overweight, while 16.2% are in obesity risk. If these two percentages are added together, more than 40% of the children in second-grade state schools are obese or overweight.

"We also wanted to observe what nutritional practice were the children following. For that reason we evaluated what the parents thought of their children’s weight", explains the nutrition specialist.

The investigators were surprised to find that 61% of the parents thought that their children were healthful and only 21% of them thought they were overweight. Around 30% of those did not see it like a serious problem but "was something that would improve with time".

"If they don’t take care of this problem at an early age, these habits will continue to deteriorate and the health of these children will also be compromised. In addition, all can be associated with low self-esteem, rejection and that they do not feel comfortable with themselves",
Dr. Rivera explains.

Here are some things we're trying to do, and some things you can do if you share our concern about this problem. Our overall goal is to make healthy choices the easy choice in school.

10 Steps to Healthier School Food

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