A study has estimated that nearly 80 per cent of children from low-income families living in subdivided flats in Hong Kong are experiencing varying degrees of nutritional deficiency. Researchers are calling on authorities to enhance education regarding proper diets.
The study covered 589 children aged two to 11 from 520 families and their carers, who took part in questionnaires and phone interviews between June 2024 and January of this year.
World Vision Hong Kong, a humanitarian organisation, said on Sunday its research showed 86.4 per cent of the children were not getting enough dairy and 76.2 per cent were not meeting the recommended intake level of vegetables.
According to the data, 69.8 per cent of the children were not eating enough fruits, 61.1 per cent needed to consume more meat and 49.1 per cent had inadequate grain intake levels.
Researchers also found only 41.1 per cent of the families prepared dinner at home every day, while 13.6 per cent did so fewer than four times per week.
World Vision Hong Kong CEO Amy Fung Dun-mi said that given the families’ income and cramped living conditions children from subdivided flats could be more affected by dietary issues.
“Oftentimes, their parents may have long working hours and irregular schedules. They may not be able to cook for their children after school,” she said.
“The environment in subdivided flats does not allow them to use big or many types of cookware. They may resort to simple tools such as a rice cooker, a steamer or a pot to cook all the food, which can result in a limited variety of food.”
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Bonnie Leung Wing-yan, a dietitian from the Hong Kong Community Dietitian Association who collaborated with the charity for the study, said parents of the respondents also had limited understanding of the recommended amounts of key foods their children should be eating.
“It is estimated that 70 to 80 per cent of every 10 children living in subdivided households had different degrees of insufficient nutrition intake,” she said.
Parents might not realise their children had poor diets until problems, such as delayed growth, constipation or blood in their youngsters’ stool, emerged, she added.
A 2021 government census showed there were 108,200 subdivided flats in Hong Kong, which accommodated 107,400 households and 215,700 people.
For the study shared on Sunday, researchers asked parents living in subdivided flats whether they knew the recommended daily intake levels for their children for key food items from the healthy eating pyramid.
The pyramid is a guide on the types and proportions of foods that people should eat every day.
According to the study, 94.2 per cent of parents failed to give the right answer when it came to the vegetable intake, 83 per cent guessed wrongly for grain and 74.5 per cent did not know how much fruit should be eaten.
Researchers also looked at how much unhealthy food, such as items high in salt, oil and sugar, the children were eating on a weekly basis.
According to the figures, 19.4 per cent of children ate spicy snacks once a week, 57.6 per cent consumed processed meats two to three times per week and 26.8 per cent had instant noodles two to three times every week.
It also found 12.9 per cent of the children ate biscuits and sweets four times or more weekly, 16.8 per cent of them had chips and fries two to three times per week, and 37.7 per cent consumed sugary drinks at the same frequency.
Leung said children aged six to 11 were recommended to eat at least two servings of fruit per day but doing so could be difficult for pupils with busy after-school schedules.
Leung said she and her colleagues had handled cases of children suffering from constipation due to not eating enough fruits or vegetables, including a youngster with stool containing blood.
“We recommended that the mother make apple white fungus soup and use ingredients with high fibre content such as peach gum, wood ear, shaggy manes … [and] eat more yogurt, and make tomato soup that is economical,” she said.
“At last, blood was no longer found in the child’s stool … Thus, nutrition interventions are crucial for children.”
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She added that although the government had implemented education programmes on nutrition, some parents lacked an understanding of food intake levels and could feel helpless when dealing with picky eaters.
Fung said the study findings indicated there was “a huge service gap” in terms of nutrition education.
“It is not just about giving guidelines to the families. There are different living environments and dietary habits, which require individualised references and inquiries to truly help them,” she said.
The study’s researchers suggested that the government increase efforts to improve low-income households’ access to information on nutrition, in addition to providing such families with suitable consultation services.
The organisation hoped to further explore how to improve the nutrition intake of children with special education needs who might be more affected by selective eating, they added.
