Study ALADINN puts on the table inequality reflected in the study, as the data suggests that these Children from families with lower incomes are more likely to be overweight because They consume more sugary drinks and less fruits and vegetables daily.
The government of Spain will insist on it school canteens Unpleasant offering fruit and vegetables to students And will ban sugary drinks, hence Only water is served during meals.
The measures of this decision, which is in the final stages of processing, are intended meeting the challenges posed by the Aladdin 2023 investigation (Nutrition, physical activity, child development and obesity). The end results of Aladdin shows that the prevalence of overweight in children aged 6 to 9 years from families with a gross income of less than 18,000 euros per year is 46.7%, compared to 29% of children from families earning more than 30,000 euros.
«The prevalence of Overweight and obesity in children are inversely related to socio-economic level of families,” said Minister Bustinduy, who added all childrenno matter where they come from, «They have the same right to healthy, quality food and the government has a duty to remove obstacles so that the full exercise of that right becomes a reality.«.
Unhealthy sugary drinks are prohibited and only water is consumed
He Royal Decree on healthy and sustainable school canteens will boost intake of fruits, vegetables, fish, legumes and whole grains in schools, will limit ultra-processed and high-calorie foods and ban sugary drinks.
The future standard goals set So the minimum conditions for ensuring that at least five meals per week meet the criteria recommended by the World Health Organizationand that schoolchildren, especially those from lower-income families, have access to this food.
The idea is to ensure that all school canteens, regardless of ownership, offering quality meat and fish And increase the amount of legumes and grains on their menus. Also, what sand establish mechanisms to ensure short production loops and local food access to more sustainable, local, KM 0, quality products that boost local economies.
When asked how it is guaranteed that the standards of this scheme are met, the minister replied: “We legislate and regulate activity, and all actors must respect the content of these regulations. In the event of non-compliance, there are mechanisms, whether inspection, control or sanction, to ensure that this is the case.«.
Only 32.5% of families believe that education centers offer quality food
In Spain, 49.5% of children between six and nine years old regularly use the services of the school canteenbut only the 32.5% of their families believe that education centers offer an offer quality food. This is reflected in the research ALADINO 2023 (Food, Physical Activity, Child Development and Obesity) presented this Thursday by Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030.
The data shows that up to 70.4% of the families surveyed believe this to be the case He school canteen makes it easier for your child to eat healthy. A service that is available to 93.8% of schools, of which 51.2% have their own kitchen and 47.6% use an external service.
The Secretary General of Consumption and Gaming, Andrés Barragán, has emphasized the importance of the school canteen as a way to pay attention to “education, health and hygiene”and to teach values such as ‘responsibility and coexistence’.
“The school canteen is not just limited to providing nutritious food”but also “contributes to reducing socio-economic inequalities by giving schoolchildren from vulnerable families the opportunity to access healthy food”, he added.
In total, 54.5% of centers provide free fruit to primary school students, while 31.4% provide milk and 21.8% vegetables. Until the 94.9% of schools additionally includes the nutrition education in your curriculum program.
Being overweight is ‘classic’
The prevalence of obesity and overweight among children aged six to nine in Spain has fallen by 4.5 percentage points over the past four years, up to 36.1%. However, it is one very uneven reduction between the different ones socio-economic strata.
In the households with an income lower than 18,000 euros gross annual figures, the prevalence of obesity and overweight in children is considerably higher, with figures of 23.4% and 23.1% respectively, compared to 10.9% and 18.3% of families with an income above 30,000 euros.
Daily fruit consumption is much lower for incomes below 18,000 euros (36.4%) than for incomes above 30,000 euros (53.6%).as well as The percentage of soft drinks with sugar is also higher (from 0.9% among high incomes to 7.8% among low incomes) and lower among vegetables (19.2% compared to 29.3%)..
The same applies to children from families of Low-income earners also play fewer extracurricular sports. 68.7% of them spend at least two hours doing these activities, compared to 88.6% of those with the highest incomes.
That is the percentage of the school population from low-income families exposed to more than two hours of screen time per dayMoreover, it almost doubled compared to those from high-income families (41.4% vs. 22.8%).
Sedentary boys and girls
On the other hand, in this edition of the Aladdin report, an increase has been observed in the practice of physical activity, but also in the proportion of sedentary schoolchildren, due to greater exposure to screens in addition to other activities, such as reading or doing homework. ..
Until the 81.7% of children spend at least looking at screens for an hour a day during the week (98.2% on weekends), while 31.7% admit to using them at least two hours a day during the week. A 9.2% of minors also happens three or more hours a week in front of screens; This figure rises to 44.4% over the weekend.
This means that the average number of children who meet the advice of at least an hour of play per day or exercise 77.5%. According to the report The overweight school population is more likely to have sedentary habits. and on the contrary, it has a lower percentage of play or moderate or intense physical exercise.