Dr Amna Hamad Elwan, Director of School Health in Sharjah, has expressed concern over the high cholesterol level in a large number of high school students.
This was found out in a study conducted jointly with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and a US company.
Dr Amna has stressed the necessity to appoint a food expert to check each student with high cholesterol level.
She attributed the malaise to the eating habits of students, mainly their reliance on fast food and fried stuff. She held the families responsible for this. Dr Amna said, “Prevention is always better than cure.”
Meanwhile, she denied reports about a virus that caused diarrhoea spreading among students in a number of schools.
She warned that chicken pox spread during this time of the year, and requested the parents to be cautious about their children.
She has also called for deploying nurses in all schools, and asked students to consume more fluids.
Chew on this!
The Global School-based Health Survey, done in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the UAE in 2005, gives some of the latest data available. GSHS provides data on the factors related to the leading causes of mortality and morbidity among youth and adults.
A total of 15,790 students from 200 schools from four regions of the UAE were questioned from March 19 to April 30, 2005. Sixty-seven per cent students were in the age group of 13-15 years (Grades 7-10), while 89 per cent of those questioned completed the questionnaire.
Fruit and vegetable intake
Overall, 47.4 per cent of students usually ate fruits such as apples, oranges, grapes, kiwi, mango, pears, bananas or melons one or more times per day during the past 30 days. Overall, 56 per cent of students usually ate vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce or carrots one or more times per day during the past 30 days.
As much as 18.5 per cent of students usually ate fruits and vegetables five or more times per day during the past 30 days while 25.6 per cent of students usually drank carbonated soft drinks two or more times per day during the past 30 days.
Eighteen per cent of students ate at fast food restaurants three or more times during the past seven days with male students (19.3pc) more likely than female students (16.5pc) to eat in a fast food restaurants.
Overall, 32.3 per cent of students usually drank milk or ate milk products such as yogurt, cheese or labneh two or more times per day during the past 30 days while 17.1 per cent of students usually ate foods high in fat such as shawarma, harees, biryani, fried meat or fried potatoes two or more times per day during the past 30 days.
Nearly half of the students (49.4 pc) had been taught in any of their classes during this school year the benefits of healthy eating. In the UAE, 21.5 per cent of students were at risk for becoming overweight.
A poser for fast food chains:
How about more green salads?
The Ministry of Health is planning to ask fast food chains to serve smaller portions with more of green salads, part of its strategies to tackle the rising incidence of obesity in the UAE.
Dr Huda Al Suwaidi, Family Medicine Consultant for the MoH, who is also heading the ministry’s committee that is chalking out strategies to combat obesity, said, “We are also holding talks with fast food manufacturing companies and outlets and suggesting to them to provide dietary information to consumers before the food is bought.”
The MoH, last year, had initiated talks with fast food outlets with regard to serving healthy food. “People have to initially learn about calories, and only then they will realise the importance of healthy eating,” she explained.
Other strategies chalked out by the MoH, which are expected to be implemented in a couple of months, include raising awareness of healthy eating habits among school children and their parents. “Schools in Dubai have already banned sale of fast food items in canteens as per the MoH recommendations,” she said.
By Mohsen Rashid (Our staff reporter)