Parents and teachers play a key role in whether children develop the habit of consuming sugary beverages that may harm their health, study results released yesterday by the John Tung Foundation showed.
In April and May, the foundation conducted a survey on children's consumption of sugary beverages, said Beryl Hsu (
"Our survey found that children of parents who consume sugary beverages are two times more likely to also develop the habit," the foundation's chief executive Jacob Jou (周逸衡) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
The foundation collected more than 1,500 valid samples from children between the ages of four and six, Jou said.
"[Besides parents,] children are more likely to become addicted to sugary drinks if these drinks are easily available at home or in kindergartens," Hsu said.
Consumption of sugary beverages could harm a child's health, she said.
"Consuming sugary beverages could cause diabetes," said Hung Chien-teh (洪建德), a doctor in metabolic diseases at Taipei City Hospital. "I've seen an increase in young diabetes patients in recent years."
Drinking sugary beverages may also cause children to reduce their intake of other food and cause a nutritional imbalance, Hung said.
Jou shared a personal experience with the drinks.
"I used to drink a lot of drinks with a high sugar content -- something like four colas a day, until I had a heart attack a few years ago ? that was caused by too much sugar in my diet," Jou said.
Jou changed his drinking habits and tried to influence his daughter, who also likes to drink cola.
"But when I told her not to drink it, she responded by saying: `You used to drink a lot [of cola] too,'" Jou said. "That's why I want to remind parents not to drink sugary beverages in front of their children."
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
RSS