[FatNewsBot]

One in five preschoolers fat: study (AAP via Yahoo!7 News)

One in five Australian kids are fat before they even start school, a landmark national study has found.

published Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:52:11 GMT

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[LittleLisaMarie]

Obesity among our pre schoolers is a big issue here as well. Part of my teaching at my new job is education parents on proper nutrition and exercise for their children. THe hard part is that the pre schools themselves dont always serve up the best foods....makes it hard. I think the preschools and all schools for that matter need to check their menu and make changes for our children!

[DocSanae]

Q for you, LisaMarie.
Aren't schools in the U.S that provide lunch to students required to have nutritionists on their staff?
Here, all public schools from preschool on up are required to have nutritionist on the staff and it's their job to make the menus for school lunch. These nuts are required to follow the nutrition and dietary guidelines set up by what is our equivalent of the US FDA. Private schools often require students to bring their own lunch, but if they have cafeterias, these schools are also required to have a nut on staff. The monthly menu plans are sent home to the parents, so we know what our kids are eating, and it's the school nut's job to provide nutrition information and education when needed.

[LittleLisaMarie]

Yes Doc they are supposed to however many of the foods our children are being served are processed and very high in fat content. I dont think the rules are strict enough or pushed enough. I found this to be true here in the city as well as out on the island when i lived out there.

LittleLisaMarie

[DocSanae]

That's a pity about processed food. Here, the focus always has been getting the required nutrients in the required amount to children. This stems from the period right after WW II ended, when Japan was in serious famine as a result of the war, and children were undernourished. As our economy expanded, that issue was resolved, but then, overnourishment came into concern. At the same time, the changes in traditional menus and our food becoming more dominantly Westernized, also became a concern, so, a lot of the school systems work to put local produce on the menu, and to mix the menu with Japanese and Western recipes.