One of 10 school-going children aged between 13-16 years are overweight which increases risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) by over 35 per cent, according to a recent survey conducted by ASSOCHAM Social Development foundation on the occasion of World Heart day on September 29.
The survey was conducted in 25 private and public school in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) among 3,000 children.
As per a World Health Organization (WHO) report, cardiovascular diseases would be the largest cause of death and disability in India by 2020. “The average age of people with heart ailments is coming down from 50 years to 20 years”, reveals the report ahead of World Heart Day. According to ASSOCHAM paper, schools also agreed that the eating habits of children need urgent attention as cases of obesity and CVD at an early age are rising.
“Healthy food needs to be considered normal not boring. Getting rid of packaged foods is a great thing to do healthwise and environmentally. Parents need to remember that kids consume 30 per cent of their daily kilojoules at school so they should be carefully monitoring what is put in the lunch box or ordered from the canteen,” added Dr Rao. Also, around 51 per cent children spend Rs 30-Rs 50 every day at the canteen with pasta and noodles selling the most, 45 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.