The Diabetes Association of T&T is blaming the food sold at school cafeterias for the growing numbers of teenagers developing Type II diabetes. Diabetes nurse educator Judy Ramdeen said yesterday recent research showed the probability of developing the disease had increased. Speaking at the finals of the Point-a-Pierre Rotary Club’s Diabetes Education Programme at the Claxton Bay Secondary School, Ramdeen said the best way to deal with the high rate of the disease among the adult population was to educate the children.
She added: “We now have young people in their teens developing Type II diabetes because of their lifestyle. Things are changing. Before it was one of every eight people who would get diabetes, now it is one in every six people. “Our problem is our eating habits and in the schools the cafeterias are the culprits. I have been to these schools and I am sure they have what these children like to eat.” She said even the School Feeding Programme was culpable as children were not getting healthy meals. “From our observations in going to the schools, the children were not getting a balanced meal. For instance, they got fried ‘aloo’ and ‘sada roti’, which is starch and starch. They got rice and macaroni pie, but they got no vegetables,” she added. She said the programme needed to provide children with more fruits and vegetables in their meals.
Other factors causing diabetes and obesity among children, she said, were cellphones, television and computer games which were occupying children’s time over exercise and sports. She added: “It was felt that the best way of dealing with the high incidence of diabetes among the adult population was to educate the children in primary schools on healthy lifestyles at an early age so there would be a reversal of diabetes among our future generations. “In order to achieve our objective with respect to proper eating habits by our school population, it is imperative that the Ministry of Education, through its representatives, monitor school canteens and vendors who provide unhealthy foods that are unsuitable for our children.” School supervisor Zorisha Mohammed-Ali told students even though they loved fast food and soft drinks, those were causes of diabetes. “Too much of anything is not good for you,” Mohammed-Ali said.
Ramdeen said the association would spread the programme to all schools in T&T and it planned to train retired nurses and teachers to carry out the tutoring. The programme featured 975 students from schools in the Victoria District who learned about the causes, symptoms and preventative measures before participating in a quiz. Eighty children qualified for yesterday’s final which resulted in seven children having to contest a tie-breaker. The top three students received trophies and cash prizes while seven others won backpacks. The competition was won by Urnilla Murti Mahabir of the Vistabella Presbyterian School with her schoolmate, Shane Ramdath, finishing second. Marissa Cockburn, of Harmony Hall Presbyterian, was third.