ㅤWhen you are about to buy or consume a product, do you ever look at these labels? Do you even know what to look at? Do you know what they mean or what they want to communicate? Do you take a look at the ingredients?
If you are reading this and you are an adult, it is likely that the answer is yes (in case you don´t forget your glasses when you go to the supermarket). Paying attention to calories, excess cholesterol, saturated fats or high sodium might be something that determines your choice, depending on your special needs.
But what about adolescent nutrition?
Do they have the same needs than adults? The answer is no: adolescents are still growing and have special needs. In our Health Education classes we have been talking about nutrition. Most of the students don´t read or don´t know what the nutritional labels mean. We talked about the importance of the source of the three macronutrients: fats, carbohydrates and proteins. About the increased needs of iron, zinc and calcium at this age and about how they have a window of opportunity to decide to go for good habits.
After watching a TED-talk of the famous cook Narda Lepes («Pequeñas decisiones y 20 minutos»), this is what students reflected about what they could change:[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][vc_single_image image=»15094″ img_size=»full»][vc_single_image image=»15096″ img_size=»full»][vc_single_image image=»15098″ img_size=»full»][vc_column_text css=».vc_custom_1604929660569{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}»]We also talked about the «Ley de Etiquetado Frontal», a very important project that has been approved last week in the senate.
«la norma plantea la colocación de una serie de sellos frontales, que serían octógonos de color negro, en los envases de aquellos alimentos y bebidas con altos contenidos de sodio, azúcares, grasas saturadas, grasas totales y calorías.»
Even with some criticisms, and suggestions to use something like the «nutriscore» system used in Europe, this law is of great importance in a country in which 30% of the kids are overweight and 6% obese.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=»15100″ img_size=»full»][/vc_column][/vc_row]