Number of fat pupils in Bulgaria grows by half in 7 years

The number of overweight pupils in Bulgaria increased by half during the last seven years, a 2010-2011 nationally representative survey released on Friday showed. Doctor Veselka Duleva, head of department at the National Center for Public Health and Analyzes, who presented the survey at a press conference, said overweight were 30.2 percent of the children aged from 7 to 19, and 12.7 percent had obesity problem. The figures in a similar survey conducted in 2004, were 20 percent and 5 percent respectively, Duleva said. Among the reasons for this were the high proportion of pupils consuming cakes, pastries and soft drinks containing sugar, while only 24 percent of children followed the recommended physical activity of at least 60 minutes a day, accroding to Duleva's opinion. Some 90 percent of children want to eat the food advertised on television, and about 70 percent of parents buy it, she added. The food offered in the kindergartens and schools covers the standards for healthy eating but it is not a must for the shops outside, doctor Svetlana Kiryakova, head of department at the Regional Health Inspectorate in Sofia, said. "We all together should take responsibility for healthy eating and physical activity of children, and our behavior should be a good example to follow," Milena Damianova, Deputy Minister of Education said.