FFA
Issue 16 November 2002 - Focus on Tweenie Health
t_Articles
AFIC's latest survey reveals the good news and the bad
news about the health perceptions, and indeed the health
status, of middle income tweenie-age children in Asia.
AFIC, in partnership with four universities, conducted a
survey of 1,815 children, aged 10-12 years (also known as
tweenies) from middle income families of Hong Kong, Bangkok,
Kuala Lumpur and Manila. Children were questioned about
their food and lifestyle preferences, what they knew about
healthy eating, the importance of physical activity, and how
this did or did not influence their diet and lifestyle
choices. Weight and height were also measured and we
discovered some interesting results.
Are healthy messages reaching children? Yes and No!
The good news is that health educators and schools can
congratulate themselves that nutritional education is
reaching this age group. The children interviewed did have
some knowledge and understanding of the role of both macro
(energy sources for example), and micronutrients (such as
iron and calcium), as well as some of the primary sources of
these. The bad news is that such knowledge does not seem to
be sufficient to prevent childhood overweight and obesity. 1
in 4 of the children surveyed were overweight or obese, and
amongst boys this figure rose to almost 1 in 3.
What tweenies know
The children were found to have fairly high levels of
knowledge about good nutrition. The children’s understanding
of the importance of physical activity did not score so
highly. Only half of the children surveyed knew they should
spend at least one hour engaged in physical activity every
day (as recommended by the US National Centre for Physical
Education).
What tweenies do
Just over half (51%) reported that the healthfulness or
nutritional value of foods were the most important criteria
when choosing their foods. Taste and safety were given as
next most important criteria (20% and 19% respectively).
Almost all children (97%) reported they enjoyed physical
activity. The regional survey did not measure time spent in
physical activity, but only 15% said they did as much as
they wanted to. Most common reasons for not doing more
energetic play and sports were homework, lack of time and
preferring to do other activities.
What tweenies like
Children's favourite foods (in order of decreasing
preference) were white rice, fruits, bread, fruit juice,
chicken, seafood, fish, eggs, drinking yoghurts, fast foods
and water. On more detailed questioning, children reported
favourite evening meals were traditional Asian dishes;
preferred snacks were favourites the world over - potato
chips, biscuits and baked products, chocolate and candies.
Children enjoyed running around in play and sporting
activities, and they liked their parents to be involved in
their sporting events, but they also enjoyed lots of time in
front of the TV and computers.
Some preliminary conclusions:
Although these results probably generate as many question,
as answers, the results do provide some useful insights into
the lifestyles and preferences of this age group, from which
future health promotion strategies and resources can draw
some insight. The survey also identified a number of
lifestyle factors which positively correlated with
overweight and obesity, and which therefore justify extra
attention in the future.
AFIC has already begun to build on lessons learnt from
this research, with a leaflet which highlights all of these
priorities and more. The leaflet is designed to encourage
young people to integrate healthy eating and physical
activity in with other lifestyle priorities and time
pressures of today’s Asian urban ‘tweenies’. For copies of
“Take 10 tips for healthy eating and physical activity”
contact AFIC by emailing info@afic.org or use the form on
the back of this newsletter.
Lifestyle factors which were positively associated with
being overweight:
Skipping breakfast (statistically significant for girls
only)
Eating out
Weekend screen time (TV and computers)
More meat than vegetables eaten at lunch time
(statistically significant for boys only)
Special attention needs to be paid to:
Encouraging increased consumption of vegetables,
establishing the breakfast habit, advice specific to
choosing wisely when eating out, and limiting time spent in
sedentary activity, especially 'screen time'.
Acknowledgements
AFIC is grateful for the support, advice and execution of
the research provided by Dr. Wilma Molano of Food and
Nutrition Research Institute, Manila, Philippines; Dr. Poh
Bee Koon of Keebangsaan University, Kuala Lumpur; Malaysia,
Professor Georgia Guldan of the Chinese University of Hong
Kong; Dr. Kallaya Kijboonchoo of Mahidol University
Thailand. AFIC also wishes to express its deep appreciation
to Professor Guldan who skilfully and patiently conducted
the regional analysis of the four countries’ results.
