Danone to put healthy eating on menu

A nonprofit institute has launched a promotional campaign to encourage healthy eating for Chinese children and families.

The Danone Institute China was set up by major French food brand Danone in 1998 and has conducted research in dietary habits along with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Part of the project has involved helping in communities understand why eating the right food is important for their health.

“Family dinners can help children to form healthy eating habits and improve awareness of a nutritional diet,” said Chen Junshi, chairman of the science committee of the Danone Institute China, at its annual academic conference in Beijing earlier this month.

“By doing so, it can reduce child obesity and malnutrition, as well as the occurrence of chronic diseases,” he added. The Danone Institute China has pumped about 2 million yuan ($300,000) into dietrelated research projects on an annual basis.

So far, it has spent about 40 million yuan on roughly 230 programs, including projects at the Health Science Center of Peking University in Beijing and Zhongshan School of Medicine in Guangdong.

Family dinners can help children to form healthy eating habits and improve awareness of a nutritional diet.” Chen Junshi, chairman of the science committee of the Danone Insititute China

Research results have been released to the public through seminars, and magazines and books produced by the institute.

Back in 2005, the Danone Institute China concluded after extensive research that a lack of iron in the diet caused anemia among Chinese people .

“We suggested that more iron should be added to soy sauce and that happened,” Chen, of the institute, said.

It now aims to hold a series of promotional events in order to improve the overall health of rural and urban families in China.

The Danone Institute China has already sent nutritional specialists to show children in rural areas of Chengdu, Sichuan province, how to plant crops, feed chickens and cook healthy meals.

“We are adopting various methods to find the most effective way to promote the idea of healthy diets,” said Zhang Guoxiong, general representative of the Danone Institute China.

“We expect to play a bigger role in supporting research events in accordance with goals of the Healthy China 2030 blueprint, which was released by the State Council last year,” Chen said.