Editor's note:
Today is May 20th. In the popular context, "520" is a day associated with love.
Actually, today is still a holiday: the 35th Chinese Student Nutrition Day. In 1989, under the chairmanship of nutritionist Yu Ruomu, the China Student Nutrition Promotion Association formulated a ten-year student nutrition work plan from 1991 to 2000, which was named "Seedling Protection System Project", which determined that May 20 of each year was the Chinese Student Nutrition Day. Since May 2001, "Chinese Student Nutrition Day" has become a legal holiday.
Behind this festival is the great love of a group of scientific and technological workers mainly nutritionists to unite and cooperate and serve the people.
In 1981, Yu Ruomu and several colleagues went to the university to investigate, and found that college students not only did not have enough nutritional intake, but also knew little about nutrition.
Today, we all know that dietary nutrition includes at least: protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, fiber. But more than 40 years ago, few people realized the need to consume these nutrients in a comprehensive and balanced manner. In the school cafeteria, Yu Ruomu saw that some people only ate fish and meat, and some only ate cabbage and rice.
The situation is even more serious for secondary school students. The results of several national nutrition surveys on the mainland show that the nutritional status of secondary school students is the worst. This was because there were few canteens in middle schools at that time, and most of the students' parents had to go to work, so the children had to make do with cold food at noon, or eat at some informal private "small tables".
In the past, many students in schools in remote mountainous areas were infected with intestinal parasites such as hookworms and roundworms due to poor hygiene. These intestinal parasites deplete large amounts of nutrients, leading not only to malnutrition in students, but also to iron deficiency or protein deficiency anemia.
60 years old, learned from scratch
In the 80s of the 20th century, an elderly lady who insisted on riding a bicycle to work was hit in the foot and fractured. After her family stopped allowing her to ride to work, she was transferred to the science and technology group of the research office of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, which was close to her home, and thus began to step into the door of nutrition.
For Wakaki, the importance of nutrition is already evident in the results of the survey. But to make a difference, she needs a lot of cutting-edge knowledge, all of which she has to learn from scratch at the age of 60.
She consulted with professors Zhou Qiyuan, Shen Zhiping, and Kim Dae-hoon, who were leaders in the nutrition field at that time. Zhou Qiyuan and Shen Zhiping are both well-known biochemists and nutritionists, working in the Department of Nutrition of the Central Institutes of Health, specializing in the study of food nutrients. A group of scientific research workers represented by them compiled the mainland's first "Food Composition Table". Since then, there is evidence on what nutrients are contained in the food commonly eaten by Chinese.
Kim Dae-hoon was one of the pioneers of the National Nutrition Census. As early as 1959, he organized and participated in the first national nutrition survey, and obtained the dietary data of 500,000 people and the biochemical examination of 20,000 people under the limited experimental conditions and equipment, which laid an important foundation for the follow-up nutrition work.
Nutritionist Kim Dae-hoon
Under the guidance of these nutrition professionals, Yu Ruomu began to study nutrition in depth and systematically.
According to Yu Ruomu's daughter Chen Weilan, in order to read cutting-edge literature, her mother relearned English. Because of the professional knowledge involved, Yu Ruomu posted cards everywhere in his home, which were full of English words related to nutrition. In just a few years, Yu Ruomu was able to speak in English at the International Symposium on Nutrition.
Yu Ruomu observes nutrients under a microscope
Seedling protection system engineering
However, even with an understanding of the current state of student nutrition and the corresponding expertise, it is not easy to promote change in society as a whole.
Yu Ruomu knows in his heart that this is not a problem that can be solved by one person, but requires the strength of the government, academia, industry and the whole society. In 1988, Yu Ruomu led the younger generation of nutritionists Shi Chengbin, Gao Yingjun and Deng Shuyu to prepare and organize the Chinese Student Nutrition Promotion Association, and held its inaugural meeting in Zhongnanhai Huairen Hall on January 15, 1989.
With the joint cooperation of experts, the government and social forces from all walks of life, the China Student Nutrition Promotion Association has formulated a student nutrition work plan for the 90s in mainland China, named "Seedling Protection System Project".
The seedling protection system project is mainly carried out in four aspects: nutrition publicity and education, compilation of nutritional recipes, student nutrition survey, and prevention and control of malnutrition and parasitic infections.
In his work, Yu Ruomu deeply felt that the public's understanding of nutrition was seriously insufficient. According to the 1982 National Nutrition Survey, the caloric intake of mainland residents has basically reached the standard, but the intake of protein and vitamins is insufficient, which shows that everyone's dietary structure is unreasonable. Some parents do not know how to have a balanced diet and give their children a lot of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods for a long time, resulting in some overweight children at that time.
To this end, the "Seedling Protection System Project" has designated May 20 as the "Chinese Student Nutrition Day" every year, and carried out a week-long nutrition and dietary hygiene knowledge publicity activity, using a variety of forms, including newspapers, brochures, radio, television and other channels to publicize.
In addition, according to the students in different regions, the "Seedling Protection System Project" has also compiled different meal recommendations. This is thanks to a national nutrition census conducted by nutritionists represented by Kim Dae-hoon. They found that some endemic diseases on the mainland were related to nutritional status. For example, the "leprosy disease" in the Northwest is actually due to a lack of nicotinic acid (vitamin) and tryptophan (amino acid). This is because corn, a staple food eaten locally, lacks these two nutrients that the body needs.
In order to find out the situation of malnutrition, intestinal parasitic infections and anemia among students, the "Seedling Protection System Project" has also carried out long-term student nutrition surveys and monitoring. Corrective programmes have also been developed for students who have developed malnutrition, parasitic infections and anaemia.
Implement nutritious lunches for students
Regarding the problem of students' difficulty in eating at school, Yu Ruomu got inspiration in a conversation with Shen Zhiping.
In 1983, Shen Zhiping was invited to India to participate in the UNESCO International Symposium on "School Feeding and Education". During the workshop, he learned that there is a state in India that provides nutritious lunches to students, thus solving the problem of malnutrition among students, and there is no shortage of similar practices internationally.
Nutritionist Shen Zhiping
In Ruomu's view, the implementation of nutritious lunches for students is a good way. However, the source of funding, the supply of raw materials, the management mechanism, and the coordination between various departments are all complex issues.
As a result, Yu Ruomu launched a pilot project of nutritious lunches for students in Hangzhou. Professor Zhu Shoumin of the Department of Nutrition of Zhejiang Medical University was invited to customize balanced meal recipes for students, and an experimental group and a control group were set up in a school. A year later, they invited nutrition experts from across the country to measure two groups of students and found that nutritious meals were extremely beneficial to students' physical fitness. Since then, the experience learned in Hangzhou has been rapidly spread to many cities across the country.
In 1990, Yu Ruomu instructed the nutritious meal work in Pinghu Baihua Primary School in Zhejiang
Nowadays, nutritious school lunches have become a common occurrence for us. Everyone has some experience on what kind of diet is healthy and balanced. But we need to remember that this is inseparable from the tireless efforts of generations of nutritionists.
It is they who started from a simple study of food nutrients, to investigating the nutritional status of people across the country, to promoting the change of the whole society's concept of nutrition, so that the physical fitness of Chinese students can be strengthened, and new vitality and hope are injected into the future of the country.
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[1] "The Biography of Yu Ruomu", Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, Publication date: 2014-11-01
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Editor-in-charge丨Yinuo malt poplar
Reviewer丨Xu Lai Linlin