She started studying nutrition at the age of 60, and helped Chinese students have their own nutritious lunches...

Editor’s Note:

Today is May 20th. In the popular context, "520" is a day related to love.

In fact, today is also a holiday: the 35th China 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. This plan was named "Seedling Protection System Project", which determined that May 20th of each year is China Student Nutrition Day. Starting in May 2001, "China Student Nutrition Day" became a legal holiday.

Behind this festival is a group of scientific and technological workers, mainly nutritionists, who work together in unity and serve the people with great love.

In 1981, Yu Ruomu and several colleagues went to universities to conduct research. They found that not only did college students not get enough nutrition, but they also knew very little about nutrition.

Today, we all know that dietary nutrition includes at least the following: protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and fiber. But more than 40 years ago, few people realized that they should take in these nutrients in a comprehensive and balanced manner. In the school cafeteria, Yu Ruomu saw some people only eat fish, and some only eat cabbage and rice.

The situation of middle school students was even worse. The results of several national nutrition surveys in my country showed that the nutritional status of middle school students was 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 could only make do with cold food at noon, or eat at some informal private "small dining tables".

In the past, due to poor sanitary conditions in some remote mountainous schools, many students were infected with intestinal parasites such as hookworms and roundworms. These intestinal parasites consume a lot of nutrients, which not only causes malnutrition in students, but also causes iron deficiency or protein deficiency anemia.

60 years old, starting from scratch

In the 1980s, the old lady insisted on riding a bicycle to work, and was hit on the foot and fractured. After that, her family no longer allowed her to ride a bicycle to work, so she was transferred to the Science and Technology Group of the Research Office of the Central Secretariat, which was close to her home, and thus began to step into the door of nutrition.

For Ruomu, the importance of nutrition is self-evident in the research results. But if she wants to change the status quo, she needs a lot of cutting-edge knowledge, and she has to start from scratch at the age of 60.

She consulted the then leading figures in the field of nutrition, Professors Zhou Qiyuan, Shen Zhiping and Jin Daxun. Zhou Qiyuan and Shen Zhiping were both famous biochemists and nutritionists, working at the Department of Nutrition of the Central Institute of Health, specializing in the study of food nutrients. A group of scientific researchers represented by them compiled the first "Food Composition Table" in my country. From then on, there was a basis for what nutrients were contained in the food commonly consumed by Chinese people.

Jin Daxun is one of the pioneers of the national nutrition survey. As early as 1959, he organized and participated in the first national nutrition survey. Under limited experimental conditions and equipment, he obtained seasonal dietary data of 500,000 people and biochemical tests of 20,000 people, laying an important foundation for subsequent nutrition work.

Nutritionist Kim Dae-hoon

Under the guidance of these nutrition professionals, Yu Ruomu began to study nutrition in an in-depth and systematic manner.

According to Yu Ruomu's daughter Chen Weilan, her mother relearned English in order to read cutting-edge literature. Because it involved professional knowledge, Yu Ruomu pasted cards all over her home with English words related to nutrition. In just a few years, Yu Ruomu was able to speak in English at international nutrition seminars.

Yu Ruomu observing under a microscope

Seedling protection system engineering

However, even with an understanding of students' nutritional status and corresponding professional knowledge, it is not easy to promote changes in the entire society.

Yu Ruomu knew that this was not a problem that could be solved by one person alone. It required the efforts of the government, academia, industry and the whole society. In 1988, Yu Ruomu led a group of young nutritionists, including Shi Chengbin, Gao Yingjun and Deng Shudu, to prepare and organize the Chinese Student Nutrition Promotion Association. The founding meeting was held in the Huairen Hall of Zhongnanhai on January 15, 1989.

With the joint collaboration of experts, the government and various social forces, the China Student Nutrition Promotion Association has formulated a student nutrition work plan for the 1990s, named the "Seedling Protection System Project."

The seedling protection system project mainly focuses on four aspects: nutrition publicity and education, compilation of nutrition recipes, student nutrition surveys, 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 calorie intake of Chinese residents had basically met the standard, but the intake of protein and vitamins was insufficient, which showed that everyone's diet structure was unreasonable. Some parents did not understand the balance of diet and fed their children a large amount of high-calorie, low-nutrition food for a long time, resulting in some overweight children at that time.

To this end, the "Seedling Protection System Project" has designated May 20 of each year as "China Students' Nutrition Day" and launched a week-long nutrition and dietary hygiene knowledge promotion campaign using a variety of forms, including newspapers, brochures, radio, television and other channels.

In addition, the "Seedling Protection System Project" has also compiled different dietary recommendations for students in different regions. This is thanks to the national nutrition survey conducted by nutritionists represented by Jin Daxun. They found that some endemic diseases in my country are related to nutritional status. For example, "pellagra" in the northwest region is actually caused by a lack of niacin (vitamin) and tryptophan (amino acid). This is because the staple food corn consumed locally lacks these two nutrients needed by the human body.

In order to understand the situation of malnutrition, intestinal parasite infection and anemia among students, the "Seedling Protection System Project" also carried out long-term student nutrition surveys and monitoring. Correction plans were also formulated for students who already had malnutrition, parasite infection and anemia.

Implementing nutritious lunch for students

Yu Ruomu got inspiration for the problem of students having difficulty in dining at school during a conversation with Shen Zhiping.

In 1983, Shen Zhiping was invited to attend the UNESCO International Seminar on School Meals and Education in India. During the seminar, he learned that a state in India provided nutritious lunches for students, thus solving the problem of malnutrition among students. There are also similar practices in the world.

Nutritionist Shen Zhiping

In Yu Ruomu's opinion, implementing nutritious lunches for students is a good idea, but the source of funds, supply of raw materials, management mechanism, and coordination between various departments are all complex issues.

Therefore, Yu Ruomu launched a pilot project of nutritious lunch for students in Hangzhou. He asked Professor Zhu Shoumin of the Department of Nutrition of Zhejiang Medical University to customize balanced diet recipes for students and set up a test group and a control group in a school. A year later, they invited nutrition experts from all over the country to test the two groups of students and found that nutritious meals were of great benefit to improving students' physical fitness. After that, the experience summarized in Hangzhou was quickly promoted to many cities across the country.

In 1990, Yu Ruomu directed the nutritious meal work at Baihua Primary School in Pinghu, Zhejiang Province

Nowadays, school lunches have become a common thing for us. Everyone has some ideas about what kind of diet is healthy and balanced. But we must remember that this is inseparable from the unremitting efforts of generations of nutritionists.

It was they who started with a simple study on the nutritional composition of food, then investigated the nutritional status of the people across the country, and then promoted changes in the entire society's concept of nutrition, thus improving the physical fitness of Chinese students and injecting new vitality and hope into the country's future.

References

[1] Yu Ruomu’s Painting Biography, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, publication date: 2014-11-01