Swiss children eat too much meat and sugar

Too much meat and sugar in the diet of children and adolescents Keystone-SDA

Too much meat, too much fat and sugar, and not enough vegetables and fruit. This is a snapshot of the eating habits of children and adolescents in Switzerland, showing that around 13% of young people between the ages of six and 17 are overweight or obese, risk factors for diabetes.

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Blood values indicating an increased risk of diabetes were also recorded in 10% of children and adolescents, says a note issued today by the Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs (USAV) based on a study of 1,852 participants.

Until now, one had to rely on foreign research, which did not take into account the local culture and what was on offer in Switzerland in terms of food. Now, however, the ‘menuCH-Kids’ survey commissioned by the USAV fills this gap.

The results of the questions show that the average diet of children and adolescents corresponds for the most part to the recommendations for the intake of key nutrients; on average, sufficient carbohydrates and dietary fibre are consumed.

However, protein intake is high overall, especially among adolescent males. The consumption of fat in young people of all age groups corresponds to the upper limit of the recommended values. The average consumption of fruit and vegetables is rather low, the consumption of meat is high. Snacks and sugary drinks are also often included in the diet in considerable quantities.

Babies breastfed longer

In addition to this study on children and adolescents, the USAV also released the latest data from a representative ten-yearly survey on infant feeding (Swiss Infant Feeding Study).

It shows that the recommendations on infant feeding are very well accepted: since the last survey – conducted among 1,269 mothers of children aged between three and 12 months – there has been an increase in the duration and frequency of breastfeeding. In particular, more babies are exclusively breastfed in the first four months of life. Partial breastfeeding also tends to increase.

Complementary foods, such as cooked vegetables, supplement breast milk and are introduced between the 5th and 7th month of life, similar to the findings of the last survey.

Translated from Italian by DeepL/mga

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