EATING right from a young age may be key to fighting off chronic diseases here.

And to get those between birth and 18 doing just that from the preschool years, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) has come up with a handbook of comprehensive nutrition guidelines.

Among the guidelines are that preschoolers should eat a serving of fruit a day from age three; those between the ages of seven and 12 should have two servings daily.

These were drawn up in consultation with 13 medical and health professionals specialising in paediatrics, developmental medicine and psychiatry.

All general practitioners, paediatricians, polyclinics and public hospitals will get copies of the handbooks. Copies in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil can be picked up at these places and at the HPB's Health Information Centre.

The guidelines are also available online for downloading at www.hpb.gov.sg

Dr Grace Soon, the head of nutrition standards at HPB, said that many of today's chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers, have a strong link to diet and lifestyle.

What a child eats builds up his profile of risk factors - obesity, high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure among them - which can lead to diseases in adulthood.

The HPB says that although various surveys show that heart disease fatalities and the number of those with high cholesterol and high blood pressure have all come down, heart disease is still the No. 2 killer, after cancer.

Other sobering statistics:

• Heart attacks among those aged 35 to 64 jumped 31 per cent - from 1,287 to 1,690 - between 1991 and 2001.
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• Between 1991 and 2003, the number of people hospitalised for heart failure jumped 68 per cent.

The move to put out the handbook follows the HPB survey which found only one in four teenagers here eating enough fruit and vegetables, and more than half the polled 3,844 secondary school students eating deep-fried foods more than twice a week.

Nutritionist Anna Jacob said the problem is that fried food tastes good, and 'children want good-tasting things all the time'.

Healthy foods, unfortunately, are bland, she added, and urged everyone to take responsibility for their own lives.

The truth is that it is a lot easier said than done.

Mr Raymond Low, a 41-year-old father of three said resignedly that while it was possible to control children's diets at home, 'once they are in school, it is out of our hands'.

Educators agree that there is little support for healthy eating in the schools.

Ang Mo Kio Secondary School goes some way to build healthy eating habits by serving fried food only once a week, and encouraging its students to ask for less oil.

Its principal Tan Chee Siong, 39, said the school will introduce the nutrition guidelines to its students.

At least one parent thinks it is high time such guidelines are put out.

Businessman Lee Chun Yong, 32, has trained his two children to stay away from 'heaty' foods and to eat only those he approves of.

He said: 'It takes time to cultivate a healthy diet, so starting from young is the best solution.'

The industry, too, is sitting up and taking notice.

Leading dairy company F&N Foods, which worked with HPB ahead of the unveiling of the guidelines, is about to introduce, for example, a low-fat milk for children above two.

But whether the young ones bite at these healthier options may be another matter.

Chia Jia Yu, 12, for instance, likes potato chips and chocolates too much.

She said: 'I would feel so sad if I can't eat my favourite potato chips any more...I prefer potato chips to my health.'