Shanghai Health Commission plans to promote trials of Nutri-Grade labels on drinks, nutrition standards for school food, and healthy diet education to improve the health of children.
An essential goal of a 3-year weight management project by the local health authority is children and youth. Local kids and teens are 34 percent overweight or obese.
The Pudong New Area health officials are visiting campuses to teach students about healthy beverages and sugary drink reduction as a trial.
A 5-year nutrition and diet study by the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that 74.6 percent of local primary and middle school students drink sugared drinks over once a week, 36.5 percent drink sweet beverages frequently, and 62.5 percent drink sugared drinks often.
Over 20 percent of elementary, middle, and high school pupils drink sweet beverages daily.
Early this year, Shanghai began testing Nutri-Grade labeling on drinks to identify their non-milk extrinsic sugar and saturated fat levels to address the issue and raise awareness.
The Nutri-Grade system comprises four colored grades. Deep green Grade A has the least sugar and saturated fat. Light green for Grade B, orange for Grade C, and red for Grade D indicate increased sugar and saturated fat intake.
Ti Gong
Students honored for promoting sugar-free drinks.
Nutrition experts have visited 16 Pudong schools to speak to students and distribute booklets about the dangers of sugared drinks and the link between chronic diseases and poor diets.
Sweet drinks are high in sugar, which raises glucose levels quickly and increases the risk of damaged teeth, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, say doctors. Sugar can also affect kids’ study skills and focus.
The Shanghai Health Commission has also been promoting healthy drinks at oral health events and trained grassroots dentists and school health teachers to limit sugary drinks and food intake. For local 5-year-olds and 12-year-olds, daily dessert and sugary drink consumption declined by 2 and 6 percentage points from 2015, respectively.
,https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2410313317/