With the improvement of living standards, the nutritional status of Chinese residents has improved significantly. The third week of May is "National Nutrition Week" every year, and the Chinese Nutrition Society recently released the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022), aiming to guide residents to change their nutritional health status, prevent chronic diseases and improve health literacy through balanced diets.
In daily life, how to achieve a reasonable diet, nutrition balance? The reporter interviewed the experts concerned.
Dietary structure of Chinese residents has undergone great changes, and high salt is an important factor affecting population health
From being full to eating well to eating healthy, as the food on the Chinese dinner table continues to change, so do the health problems associated with it.
"Since 1982, China has conducted nutrition and health monitoring every 10 years, and after 2012, the monitoring cycle has been shortened to once every five years." The monitoring data show that the dietary structure of Chinese people has changed dramatically." Ding Gangqiang, director of the Nutrition and Health Institute of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters that in 1982, there were very many residents with protein malnutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies were also very common. Today, that has changed, with stunting rates in children and adolescents dropping from 10 percent to less than 2 percent. At the same time, the overweight rate of adults reached 50.7 percent, and the prevalence of diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes continued to increase.
The Report on Nutrition and Chronic Diseases in China (2020) points out that unhealthy lifestyles are still widespread. For example, the energy supply ratio of dietary fat continued to rise, and rural areas exceeded the recommended upper limit of 30% for the first time. The average daily household consumption of salt and oil for cooking is still well above the recommended value; The proportion of residents eating out is increasing, and the problem of oil and salt in canteens, restaurants and processed foods deserves attention. The problem of children and teenagers regularly drinking sugary drinks has been highlighted.
The analysis of the main causes of diseases in China shows that chronic diseases have accounted for more than 88% of the deaths in the population, of which 2 out of every 5 deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, the prevalence of hypertension in adults over 18 years old is as high as 27.5%, and the prevalence of diabetes is 11.9%.
In the papers published in the international famous medical journal The Lancet, the causes of cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases in China have been repeatedly talked about, among which high salt or high sodium intake ranks first. Yang Yuanxin, chairman of the Chinese Nutrition Society and director of the Expert Committee on the revision of dietary guidelines, said that the analysis of the current salt intake of Chinese residents shows that the current national daily salt intake of no more than 5 grams of adults is still very few, most People's Daily average intake of more than 9 grams, and some even as high as 11 grams, high salt has become an important factor affecting health.
"The high incidence of chronic diseases, in addition to genetic factors, the most important reason is the change of lifestyle. On the one hand, dietary patterns have changed, and on the other hand, physical activity, including occupational activity, has decreased." Ding Gangqiang said that if the exercise is greatly reduced, the eating habits remain in the past, and the choice of high oil, high salt and high sugar foods will have a great impact on health.
A proper diet can solve 78% of chronic disease-related problems, and it is essential to abandon bad eating habits
Every Spring Festival, Ou Xiaohui, a young woman from Hunan who works in Beijing, receives bacon and fish from her family and friends in her hometown. The taste of her hometown makes her feel warm and fragrant.
"You can eat health, but you have to talk about science." Yang Yuexin said that Chinese people have a traditional food culture, but many dietary habits need to be changed, "Smoked products, bacon products are a way to preserve food in the past, but also formed a special flavor, Chinese residents like it very much." But they do significantly increase the risk of stomach and esophageal cancer, and moderate consumption is recommended." Studies have shown that diet can address 78% of chronic disease-related problems, such as reducing salt intake can help control 57% of high blood pressure. Therefore, to ensure a healthy and high-quality life, we must first abandon bad eating habits.
Experts say many people have misconceptions about healthy eating. Some people refuse to eat carbohydrates because they want to be slim. Some people think that vegetarian food is the healthiest. Others prefer big fish and meat. In fact, in the diet of healthy people, carbohydrates account for 50% to 60% of the energy source, protein accounts for 10% to 15%, and fat accounts for 20% to 30%. More than 70 percent or less than 40 percent of carbohydrates increased the risk of mortality. Therefore, even if you lose weight and fat, you should not remove grains from your diet. Similarly, animal foods provide human needs with high-quality protein, vitamins A and B vitamins, but also contain high fat and cholesterol, so follow the principle of appropriate intake of fish, poultry, eggs, lean meat, an average intake of 120 grams to 200 grams per day is best, can not eat too much.
How to achieve 5 grams of salt per person per day? Yang Yuanxin gives three suggestions: First, consider the whole day's food intake, because in addition to salt itself, other foods may also contain sodium; Second, cooking at home should be calculated according to the total amount of salt per person, so that you have a good idea; The third is to eat less meat products, because whether it is processed meat or cooked meat at home, salt consumption is larger, so try to buy less processed meat, especially cured and smoked meat.
"The Balanced Diet Pagoda of Chinese Residents (2022) has been published, and the daily intake of oil, salt, dairy products, vegetables and fruits, grains, and animal foods needs to be a lot, and the daily diet should be 'done according to the rules'." Yang Yuexin said.
Should return to plant-based food based dietary pattern, experts recommend "Eastern healthy dietary pattern"
In recent years, the "Mediterranean diet" has gone viral on the Internet, becoming a healthy meal template that many people follow. The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" for the first time put forward the concept of "Eastern healthy dietary model", which is refreshing.
The so-called dietary pattern is the variety, quantity, proportion and frequency of consumption of all foods in the diet over a period of time, which is affected by many factors, including agricultural production, geographical environment, religious beliefs, population movements, etc.
In 2019, The Lancet compared the diet and disease status of 195 countries and regions and concluded that China's dietary salt intake is too much and refined grains are too much. Chang Cuiqing, deputy director of the Expert Committee for the revision of Dietary guidelines and director of the Nutrition and Biochemistry Laboratory of Peking University Third Hospital, believes that the traditional dietary structure of the Chinese people is mainly plant foods, and from the 1990s, the dietary structure has slowly changed, and the intake of animal foods is more. Based on evidence from food and health studies, Chinese people should return to a plant-based diet."Our country is large and abundant, and different regions have different dietary representatives, many of which have healthy dietary patterns." Yang Yuexin said that China's culinary culture has national characteristics, south of the Yangtze River and Guangdong, Fujian coastal area residents dietary nutrition status is relatively good, the main characteristics of the diet is: cooking light less salt, food variety, grains, rich in vegetables and fruits, often eat fish and shrimp and other aquatic products, soybean products and milk. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention's dietary nutrition survey and chronic disease survey found that the prevalence of chronic diseases such as hypertension was low in these areas, the average life expectancy, especially the healthy life expectancy, was high, and the incidence of overweight and obesity was relatively low. It is found that this model is close to the balanced diet model, and the Dietary Guide for Chinese Residents (2022) defines it as the "Eastern healthy diet model" for the first time, and recommends it.
"One side of the soil and the other side of the people, the Chinese people should be based on land resources to arrange a reasonable diet." Chang Cuiqing believes that not only in the South, through reasonable collocation, other regions can also find a healthy diet solution.
In the new dietary guidelines, the principle of "variety and proper mix of foods" is number one. Yang Xiaoguang, deputy director of the Expert Committee on the revision of the Dietary guidelines, said that people can choose a variety of foods, only through reasonable mix, to meet the needs of all aspects of the body.
The new dietary guidelines call for an average intake of more than 12 foods per day and more than 25 foods per week. Reasonable collocation means that different people should have personalized choices, and healthy people should match different foods to achieve nutritional balance. The elderly, infants and other special groups, more need to eat a reasonable mix.
In recent years, take-out meals have become a way of life for many people, especially young people. The survey found that the top 20 takeout foods are meat, fried foods account for a high proportion, spicy flavors are particularly popular, and few people order vegetables and aquatic products.
"Eating takeaways is for convenience, but when choosing takeaways, people are more likely to choose heavy foods with high oil and salt, and it is difficult to take into account the balance of nutrition." If you buy such food several times a week, you can easily get into the habit of eating it." Yang Yuexin said that eating is the first thing in life, which not only affects personal health, but also relates to the health quality of the whole people, and even affects the medical system of the whole society, sustainable food development, ecological environment and so on. I hope that everyone can pay full attention to the big thing of "diet and health", learn to understand food, buy food, design meals by themselves, try to cook at home, ensure reasonable collocation, achieve balanced nutrition, and promote good health.
