Activity held to commemorate National Nutrition Week

The Shanghai Public Nutrition Guidance Committee and the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission held a themed promotional activity at the IBP International Convention Center in Changning district on Wednesday to commemorate the Ninth National Nutrition Week.

A series of other activities will be held in hospitals and communities around the city during the week to raise awareness about the importance of having good diet plans.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, last year's goals for the week, including decreasing the anemia rate among children under 5 years old and pregnant women, the obesity rate among primary school children, and the malnutrition rate among hospitalized patients, have all been achieved.

During the promotional activity on Wednesday, the Public Health School of Fudan University held a sub-forum focusing on new diet patterns and relevant food pollutants. Experts recommended healthy lifestyle and mentioned that the consumption of probiotics has been growing rapidly in China.

During the sub-forum, Japanese confectioner and dairy products maker Meiji shared its latest research results regarding a yogurt product with specific probiotic types that has been available in the China market for the last two years. The research shows that the yogurt product can help improve symptoms in individuals with functional dyspepsia and help elevate the success rate of inhibiting Helicobacter pylori bacteria in the stomach.

Helicobacter pylori bacteria infections are listed as an explicit cancer-causing factor for gastric cancer by the World Health Organization. Research shows that its infection rate in China is between 44 and 59 percent.

Multinational healthcare company Abbott also held an event to promote balanced nutritional intake. Gao Jian, director of the nutrition department of Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, said that good diet habits are particularly important to the health of the elderly as well as people who are recovering from diseases or suffering from chronic diseases.

"For some elderly who live independently, it may be difficult to obtain, stock and cook a variety of food for themselves, and porridge and soup are the main food for some. Such diets fail to satisfy their needs for high-quality proteins, calcium, vitamins, and minerals," said Gao.

He recommended that each person eats 15 different kinds of food a day and 22 or more a week.