Are they eating healthy food?

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Artery-clogging fried chicken and French fries, cholesterol-laden nasi lemak, and "tooth-achingly" sweet chocolates and ice cream.
These are what our children are eating in school every day.
There are "School Canteen Guidelines" but some operators are openly flouting them, according to a recent study by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
They sell sickly-sweet carbonated drinks, cream biscuits filled with trans fats, and jeruk buah (preserved fruit), with tonnes of sugar and preservatives, to our children.
Except for carbonated drinks, all these sweet stuff is prohibited under the guidelines.
Statistics show that more children are getting overweight and about 30 per cent are obese.
Diabetes is already on the rise among teenagers between ages 13 and 19.
Last Tuesday, the president of the National Heart Association of Malaysia, Dr Henderick Chia, was quoted as saying that more young people were suffering from cardiovascular diseases.
"Some heart disease patients I met were in their 20s," he reportedly said.
Is school canteen food making our children sick?
No one is ready to point fingers, but from the UKM study that was conducted on 12 schools in the Klang Valley, the canteen menu speaks for itself.
The findings showed that the majority of food in canteens is fried and oily.
And nasi lemak, nasi goreng and stir-fried noodles are common staple meals of our schoolchildren — all 12 schools sell them as their "main meals".
The influence of the Western diet has also crept into our school canteens — 11 out of 12 sell fried chicken, burgers, nuggets and French fries.
Sweet foods like traditional kuih are a must — all schools sell the stuff.
Ice cream and ice-lollies come a close second, with at least 10 schools selling them.
World Medical Association president Datuk Dr N. Arumugam told Bernama recently that unhealthy food and beverages, prepared by school canteen operators, contributed to obesity among children.
"Children love tasty food which has a lot of oil and beverages where the sugar content is high," he said.
He also called on the authorities to look into the situation which, if left unchecked, could lead to bigger health problems.
More people would also be prone to heart diseases.
However, UKM associate professor Dr Norimah A. Karim, who helmed the study conducted in 2004, said canteen food was not the only culprit for the increasing number of overweight children.
"I don’t think it’s fair to say that school canteens are responsible, because there are other factors that contribute to obesity," she said during a panel discussion, after presenting the findings of the study at a Nestle media workshop on Friday.
Because of the frenzied chase for paper qualifications, children are becoming physically inactive.
"The emphasis is on the cognitive skills of children, causing physical activities to be sidelined," said Norimah, a senior lecturer in UKM’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences.
Norimah said parents should make a conscious effort to educate children to make healthier choices when buying food.
Nestle Products marketing manager and marketing service unit and communications director Leong Ming Chee said most children had some idea of good nutrition.
"The knowledge is there and some know that eating a burger isn’t all that healthy.
"But they don’t know how to put their nutritional knowledge into practice."
Leong said a Nestle study of 24 schoolchildren showed their favourites were oily food like nasi lemak and fast food like chicken burgers and hot dogs.
"They place a great deal of importance on taste and variety and prefer to choose what to eat and drink."
The study also involved mothers of the children. Most said they did not trust canteen food because there was no enforcement or monitoring of food quality.
The mothers preferred to pack food for their children to take to school, said Leong, adding that boys were reluctant to bring food from home because they did not want to get teased by friends.
Health Ministry’s Food Safety and Quality division director Dr Abdul Rahim Mohamad, who was at the workshop, said: "We can’t do anything about food sold in school canteens as long as they comply with food regulations."
He said it is up to the headmaster or principal to enforce the School Canteen Guidelines.