The Sian dieticians, in collaboration with the Local Health Authority Consultants and with the Family Centers of the Municipalities, carry out training and information meetings aimed at pregnant women within the birth preparation courses and online meetings on the topics of nutrition during pregnancy and complementary nutrition.
“A varied and balanced diet is essential from conception and the first years of life to ensure optimal growth and development of newborns and children but it is also the fundamental premise for a long-term healthy life and for the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases” points out Simona Midili dietitian of the Food Hygiene and Nutrition Service.
The ASL’s activity on children, with a view to prevention of childhood obesity, is very complex and affects various areas, from school to family.
The Food Hygiene and Nutrition Service carries out assessments of school menus offered in nursery schools, nursery schools and primary schools throughout the province also with random inspections: in 2023 Sian evaluated 219 menus to ensure a healthy, safe and sustainable meal in compliance with the scientific evidence indicated by the regional guidelines for the provision of healthy and sustainable food and drink in schools and tools for its evaluation and control.
There are dozens of information meetings aimed at teachers as well as canteen commissions and meetings dedicated to parents to share not only the basics of correct nutrition but to provide practical advice for managing meals and making healthy choices easy.
Among the projects of food education aimed at pupils (from nursery to lower secondary school) we highlight ‘Eat right, move with gusto’ and ‘Mani in Pasta’ projects which in 2023 reached around 7,500 pupils and their families.
The ASL has also activated one specific route to take care of overweight and obese children in the 1 to 14 year age group, throughout the province, managed by multidisciplinary teams (dietician, psychologist, kinesiologist) who can be accessed upon referral from a pediatrician of free choice. The child and his family are taken care of in a process of guidance towards a healthy lifestyle which includes not only nutrition but also the promotion of physical activity. In 2023 they were overall taken care of 145 children in a condition of overweight or obesity throughout the province, a figure that is down compared to 175 in 2022 but up compared to 132 in 2021.