Being lazy to eat vegetables, the rate of overweight and obesity increases

However, the annual rate of stunting reduction among children under 5 years old is slowing down, at less than 1%/year since 2015. The rate of stunting malnutrition among school children (5 – 19 years old) age) is still at 14.8%. The proportion of under-five children who are underweight will also decrease from 7.1% to 5.2% (in 2020). Malnutrition and stunting hinders reaching maximum adult height.

The consumption of vegetables and fruits among Vietnamese adults is just over 66% of the recommended level shutterstock

Notably, the rate overweight, obese (closely related to diet and lifestyle) is increasing rapidly in all ages both in urban and rural areas.

Overweight and obesity in children under 5 years old is 7.4% (9.8% in urban areas; 5.3% in rural areas); with school-age children is very high, at 19%. This is accompanied by the consequences of increasing nutritional metabolism disorders and non-communicable diseases in adults.

The proportion of adults who are overweight or obese is 15.6% (according to the National Survey of Risk Factors for NCDs in 2015) and continues to increase. Also according to this survey, the proportion of adults with hypertension is 18.9%; rate of adults infected diabetes is 4.1%; the proportion of adults with dyslipidemia is 30.2%.

In terms of diets, there were generally positive improvements in the average energy in the diet, estimated at 2,023 Kcal/day, a slight increase compared to the level of 1,925 Kcal/day (in 2010).

Notably, rice consumption tends to decrease; People’s fruit and vegetable consumption has improved: from 190.4 grams of vegetables/person/day; 60.9 grams of ripe fruit/person/day (2010) to 231 grams of vegetables/person/day; 140.7 gr ripe fruit/person/day (in 2020). However, the consumption of fruits and vegetables in adults is only about 66.4 – 77.4% of the recommended level. Meanwhile, meat consumption increased rapidly from 84 gr/person/day (2010) to 136.4 gr/person/day (2020); In urban areas, consumption is higher at 155.3 gr/person/day. In particular, students in cities tend to increase their consumption of soft drinks and industrially processed foods.

With the above statistics, Ministry of Health and ministries and branches supplement and complete the policyregulations to control the advertising of foods and products that are not conducive to health, especially products intended for children and pregnant women; policies to reduce salt consumption in the diet, limit the consumption of sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods; review and supplement the list of food ingredients recommended nutrition for Vietnamese people; review and supplement national guidelines on portions, menus for different subjects, physical activities for Vietnamese people (according to age group, type of labor, physiological and health status); guidelines for the implementation of a reduced-salt diet; overweight prevention guide, fat in children.