WE ARE BLINDED TO BUT CAN SAVE THE REALITIES THAT OUR LIVES

Eating habits of children and teenagers

More than 30% of children under three years old are overweight

More than 30% of Portuguese children between 12 months and three years old are overweight and 6.5% are obese, according to a study that evaluated more than 2,200 children representative of the population.

This is the first national study evaluating eating habits and behaviors in children of preschool age, which involved nearly three dozen researchers, whose results were released recentely in Lisbon.

According to this research, the Portuguese children have a genetic potential of growth below the world average, but on weight they reach values above the World Health Organization reference.

From 12 months old, children studied showed a power consumption (calories) higher than what is recommended and protein consumption was found to be twice of what is appropriate, particularly due to high dependence on cow's milk.

The parents of the children, with an average age of 34 years, showed a "worrying prevalence of overweight or obesity. This prevalence is 38% in women and 61% in men, above the national average.

Source: newspapers

Initiatives for a change

Schools try to set rules for children to havehealthy meals.

Experts say schools follow the rules set for the choice of food and menus in the canteens of schools, many coming from the European Union, but adapt them to economic conditions and by choosing meals that younger ones will not refuse. The meals contain all elements necessary for their development, including vegetables and try to avoid waste.

“In this process all adjustments are continuous,“said to the Lusa agency the researcher MonicaTruninger, from the Institute of Social Sciences,University of Lisbon.

"Or people try to set those regulations to their practices or the kids do not eat certain things because they do not like vegetables and note that there are more vegetables in the dishes and reject them," said the researcher. The objective is "trying to see how I can meet the regulations, but somehow do not have waste. This is a daily tension between people who are in the canteens,“ to feed children more healthily, finding ways for them to eat more fruit and vegetables, she said.

Source: newspapers

Conclusion of the topic

Eating habits in young people in Portugal have improved in the recent years with initiatives and nutritional education projects. With these measures we can really notice improvements in this field.

There has been a "substantial" increase of children up to 10 years old using the Internet .

In the last five years we have seen a "substantial increase“ in the use of Internet by children upto ten years of age, according to a recently published international report , mostly this study warns about an increase in exposure to risk in this age group.

The researchers also warn about children's exposure to risk at the hands of their own parents, defending that they should be more careful as educators with the proceeds and the image of children on the Internet.

Technology use among teenagers

The major concern is related with photos and videos of the children placed by their own parents on the internet and the possible effects if these publications may end in the digital footprint of children.

"Some parents are creating in their children digital footprints on social networking sites that may colide with privacy policies without authorization of individual users", warn experts.

In its recommendations, the international report suggests creating realistic guidelines for parents and guardians about the involvement of younger children with digital technologies and the Internet, aimed at specific age groups (0 to 2 years old, between 3-5 and ages between 6-10).

Source: newspapers

Portuguese youth send 100 SMS per day

The young Portuguese send more than 100 text messages on average per day, through the mobile phone and make about six calls daily.

By gender, it was found that girls make more calls to mobile phones, and the average duration of these per day is 20% higher than that of the boys.

About messaging (SMS), the gender gap is not even 1%, the study concludes.

Source: Article of Jornal de Noticias

Conclusion of the topic

There has been an increased use of technology and the internet in Portugal but there are also dangers to which there have been warnings such as: school lectures, informative projects, advertising regulators education and specific information about the dangers and benefits of the use of technology and internet by our teens.

Habits related to physical exercise64% of Portuguese say they never exercise or practise sports.

Portugal is one of the EU countries where citizens do less exercise or engage in some kind of sport, according to a Eurobarometer published recently.

In Portugal, 64% of respondents said never get any exercise and only 8% admit they play sports or work out regularly.

For the European Commissioner for Sport, Androulla Vassiliou, these results "support the need to take further steps to encourage more people to play sports or do some kind of physical activities in their daily lives."

"This is crucial, not only in terms of individual health and well-being, but also the significant economic costs resulting from the lack of physical activity," he added.

The European official also believes that the investigation "shows that local authorities in particular can do more to encourage citizens to be more physically active.“

Source: Article of Jornal de Noticias

Conclusion of the topicThe Portuguese population does not have the habit of practicing physical exercise, but in recent years the sports practice has increased in the population due to the introduction of sports projects, marathons, cycling competitions and other sporting practices but the general values are still well below the average.

Packaging we deal with on a day-to-day basis

These are the results of the study on packaging most used by the Portuguese :on a day-to-day basis:

Ice tea Pringles

Coca-cola

McDonald’s Donuts

Chocolates

ChicletsKinder

French fries