Rio de Janeiro tests new recipe against childhood obesity

Chicken with potatoes, carrot-and-cabbage salad: it looks like a detox meal, but it’s the menu at a school cafeteria in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is seeking new ways to fight childhood obesity.

Nearly one-third of children in Brazil are obese, an epidemic city health officials and community leaders are seeking to address in innovative ways, enlisting school cafeterias and taking their message of healthful eating to the street.

“Cake? There’s no cake here,” said cook Neide Oliveira as she chops onions for the 650 pupils of Burle Marx public school in the Curicica neighbourhood on Rio’s west side.

Additive-packed snacks and cookies are also out, after city officials banned ultra-processed foods from schools this year.

Instead, pupils are discovering classic Brazilian fruits and vegetables that are often overlooked these days, like yams, okra and persimmons — which many of the children initially mistook for tomatoes.

Judging from how they devour their lunch, the programme is having an impact.

“I like everything they make here, and it’s good for my health. At home I eat a lot of junk food, like pizza and hamburgers,” says Guilherme (15).

EPIDEMIC

“Childhood obesity is an epidemic, not just in Brazil, but worldwide,” said Marluce Fortunato, a nutritionist for the Rio city government.

The city is responding with a programme at public and private schools, asking teachers to educate pupils on healthful eating habits.

Thirty-one percent of Brazilian children and teens are overweight or obese. A recent study by the Desiderata institute found more than 80% of five to 19-year-olds reported eating at least one ultra-processed food the previous day, such as sausages, fizzy drink and pastries.

“Science has shown these products are very detrimental to our health and are responsible for 70% of chronic diseases worldwide,” said paediatrician Daniel Becker.

And in children, they can lead to a double-barrelled problem: obesity combined with malnutrition, which can damage learning ability and attention span, he said.

But changing eating habits is a challenge. Ultra-processed foods are made with ingredients designed to “addict the tastebuds,” and have a market advantage over natural products given their mass distribution and cheaper prices, said Becker.

Sitting next to Guilherme, his friend is feasting on his chicken, rice and beans. But he admits that after school he regularly buys chips outside.

Fortunato says schools need parents’ help. “It’s easier to educate young children. Once a person’s way of thinking is set, it's a challenge to introduce new concepts,” she said.

She mentions the example of a father who complained to the school because his son started asking for natural juices at home, which are more expensive than their sugary, additive-heavy counterparts.

LIVE-CHANGING PROJECT

Still, some adults manage to change. At age 60, grandmother Vera Lucia Perreira discovered organic vegetables and fell in love.

“They’re not just healthful, they’re tasty,” she said. “My seven-yearold granddaughter already eats better than previous generations”, she added.

Perreira is one of 160 women involved in a project called Organic Favela, launched 13 years ago to transform eating habits in the poor Babilonia neighbourhood.

The project runs workshops for residents, and also uses creative approaches, like healthful recipes painted in graffiti on neighbourhood streets.

Founder Regina Tchelly also works with schools. Her mission: get children to have five colours of natural foods on their plates.

“We teach people to make avocado butter” and “Barbie eggs” — dyed red with beets, she said.

At the national level, a high-visibility advertisement campaign launched in March seeks to raise awareness of the health risks of ultra-processed foods, enlisting celebrities and experts to spread the word.

The campaign, called “sweet poison” (“doce veneno”, in Portuguese), wants the government to tax ultra-processed foods and use the proceeds to subsidise healthy ones.