Kaohsiung has the highest rate of obesity among junior-high and high-school students in the nation, the most recent Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed.
The latest annual report of nationwide obesity statistics showed that at the elementary school level an average of 30.2 percent of male students and 22.7 percent of female students are obese. At the junior-high school level, 36.4 percent of male students and 25.6 percent of female students are obese.
However, statistics released earlier this year by the Kaohsiung Education Bureau showed that 32.68 percent of male students and 23.76 percent of female students at elementary school are obese. At the junior-high school level, 39.19 percent of males and 27.47 percent of females in the city are obese.
Photo: Hsu Li-chuan, Taipei Times
Grades one and two have the lowest rates of obesity, while 20 percent of students at the grade-five level and above are obese and 14 percent are overweight, the statistics for the city showed.
The high rate might be due to the hot weather in Kaohsiung, which might be encouraging children to drink more sweet and iced beverages, the Kaohsiung Education Bureau said, adding that the heat also causes children to spend less time exercising outdoors.
The average body mass index (BMI) of students in districts closer to the mountains and of indigenous children is higher, and that of students from near the city center including Gushan (鼓山), Sinsing (新興), Lingya (苓雅) and Cianjin (前金) districts is lower, the data showed.
The bureau recorded a decrease in the average BMI of the city’s students from each grade compared with the year before. The highest decrease was recorded among sixth graders whose average BMI decreased by 0.17, while the second-biggest decrease was among ninth graders, with an average BMI decrease of 0.13.
The year-on-year decrease showed that efforts by the city to promote a healthier lifestyle were promising, the bureau said, adding that students reported higher levels of exercise and better sleep patterns.
However, more effort was needed to encourage more water intake and consumption of vegetables, it said.
Schools with a higher proportion of overweight students would be provided with greater funds and resources to promote healthy habits, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS