One-fifth of children in Mazovia are overweight. WUM's latest study

Commissioned by the Marshal's Office of the Mazovian Voivodeship, the Medical University of Warsaw carried out a survey on lifestyle, nutrition and dietary knowledge. The survey was conducted on a group of 1,642 children from elementary (grades VII and VIII) and secondary schools in Mazovia. Its purpose was to create an educational campaign for children and adolescents on proper nutrition.

The results of the survey are not optimistic, as it turns out that one in five children in Mazovia is overweight. And it's not just about the resulting "aesthetic" problems and lack of acceptance among peers, but primarily that being overweight at a young age seriously increases the risk of diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular and skeletal diseases or joint disorders. Poor nutrition also causes fatigue, irritability, and badly affects mental condition or ability to concentrate. Filip Raciborski - head of the study - stresses that the results of the WUM study are more or less in line with those of the Supreme Audit Office. However, it should be borne in mind that in children the definition of overweight and obesity is sometimes problematic because of what we are comparing the data to. The WUM study used indicators or guidelines from the World Health Organization WHO.

Nowadays, children have unlimited access to "junk" food, do not respect meal times, and often eat involuntarily or out of boredom. There is little parental supervision of a child's diet. This is due, among other things, to insufficient parental knowledge about the impact of diet on a child's health, intellectual development, memory and physical development. The survey indicates that the way children are fed is far from recommended. No less than four meals, consumed just over a third of the children surveyed. One in ten students ate only 1-2 meals per day. Daily consumption of breakfast was declared by half of the students, while almost a quarter did not eat breakfast at all. There is also a shortcoming in the proper quality selection of products, which would ensure the supply of all the nutrients necessary for proper physical and mental development. For health, the proper frequency of consumption of health-promoting products is particularly important. However, in the daily diets of children and adolescents, products are present in large quantities, the consumption of which should be limited due to their high content of salt, sugar or saturated fatty acids. The survey showed that almost one in ten students consumed fast food several times a week or more often.

In addition to diet, elements of a healthy lifestyle include adequate physical activity, time spent in front of the computer and sleep length. As the survey showed - which Filip Raciborski emphasizes - children stop playing sports as they get older. A moderate level of physical activity at school was declared by 46% of students. One in four students described their activity level as low or high. Outside of school, moderate and high levels of physical activity were declared by 45% and 35% of students, respectively. A shift in physical activity from school to out-of-school time was observed for older students. High physical activity at school was declared by 16% of students, and outside school by 38%. The percentage of students with low physical activity at school was 42%, and outside the home was 25%.

More than 50 percent of high school girls have weekly physical activity of three hours or less. World Health Organization recommendations call for a minimum of 60 minutes a day, or seven hours a week. In contrast, time in front of a computer/phone for 40% of younger and one in three older students is less than 2 hours, with 6-8% of students spending an extreme amount of time in front of a computer (more than 8 hours). As for time with the phone - a third of the students each spent 2-4 hours a day or 4-6 hours a day at the phone, one in ten students spent 8 or more hours a day at the phone.

In a nutrition knowledge test, among both younger and older students, 50% showed a sufficient level of knowledge about healthy food. However, the children have gaps and do not know what products are the basis of a healthy diet, and are not very able to distinguish between health-promoting and unhealthy products. The study showed that among young people it is necessary, in an attractive and accessible form, to promote knowledge of the principles consistent with the recommendations of the "Healthy Eating Plate". Educate on increasing the intake of: whole grain cereal products, vegetables and fruits, pulses, fish, dairy products, especially fermented, nuts and seeds, and reducing the intake of: salt, red meat and processed meat products, sugar and sweetened beverages, processed products with high sugar, salt and fat content. Equally important is raising awareness that physical activity and adequate sleep are the glue that binds together all the elements of a healthy lifestyle to maintain proper weight.