The children do not eat well at school: a lack of fruits, eggs, and legumes in school menus

"Young children need to take meat, it is one more brick to the building"Ideas to eat healthy for the oficinaRazones by which legumes are essential in our diet

The children do not eat well at school: a lack of fruits, eggs, and legumes in school menus
"Young children need to take meat, it is one more brick to the building"Ideas to eat healthy for the oficinaRazones by which legumes are essential in our diet

most of The menus offered in schools does not respect the recommended quantities of the different food groups, as more than half of the schools serve too many carbohydrates and meat , while are in short supply, legumes, eggs, the blue fish and the fruit , as it has verified the Consumer Organization (OCU).

The OCU has obtained these data through a survey conducted among parents of students who eat at school to know how are the school menus. To value, have taken as reference the recommendations of the NAOS strategy (Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention) issued by the National Health System in terms of number of servings per week of each type of food.

According to has been able to verify OCU through this study, currently more than half of the schools serve too many carbohydrates (rice, pasta, potatoes). The private schools are the only ones that are about average in line with the recommendations, while those concluded are the most is exceed, especially with pasta and potatoes.

however, the legumes are in short supply in all the cases , and the bread is absent in 70 per cent of the centres. For its part, the average number of servings of vegetables (2,79 per week) is adjusted as recommended. However, this occurs in 30 percent of cases in mashed potatoes and in 50 per cent as a salad garnish.

If you take into account jointly the meat and sausages , two-thirds of the schools serve the children an excess of meat . According to OCU, the egg , you should use at least once a week, they are scarce and seem to have been replaced by sausages in many cases.

The consumption of fish , in contrast, is suitable in the majority of centres, especially in the public (72% meet the recommendation), although the predominant white on the blue, which is only 18 percent.

The ready meals (croquetas, flamenquines and dumplings), for their part, must be present in the menus from time to time, a maximum of two times per month. Thus, it has been found that 59 percent of the schools are adjusted to these amounts (70% in the case of private). Also the fried food, which can be served once a week, are average in this study.

what a Gift is the fruit?

in Addition, despite the fact that the ideal is that they offer fruit as a dessert to the children at least five times per week , two of every three schools are below this amount, with 3.5 servings in half. According to the OCU, the fruit in syrup is uncommon, and the dairy-based desserts (often yoghurt sweetened) taken two times in more than half of the schools, when it is recommended that you serve only once.

despite this, the study reflects that the school menus have been improved with respect to 2006, when the OCU was another similar analysis, since that now includes more fish, eggs, and fruit and less fried and dairy-based desserts, sweetened then.

in Addition, parents who have been involved in the analysis say they have a favorable opinion of the quality and balance of the menus. 37 per cent believed that the variety of foods served to their children is adequate and only 12 percent of them gives them a bad note.

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Date Of Update: 05 October 2019, 13:00