Sun, Feb-26-23, 05:14
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Plan: HP/LC/IF
Stats: 238/155/160
BF:
Progress: 106%
Location: UK
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We’re kidding ourselves if we think our children have a healthy diet
Quote:
We’re kidding ourselves if we think our children have a healthy diet
Tim Spector
British toddlers have one of the worst diets in the world. Analysis of children’s diets in eight countries showed under-5s in the UK consume the most mass-manufactured foods, with instant meals making up almost two thirds of their average energy intake, a forthcoming report is set to conclude.
Improving what we eat is especially crucial for children. Their nutritional needs fall on all our shoulders — making the access they have to healthy food, and how it is advertised, is just as important as giving parents the tools and resources to choose healthy food for them.
This new research has linked popular ultra-processed baby and toddler foods — like biscuits, puff and stick-style crisps, purée pouches and ready meals — with weight gain and growth problems. Poor nutrition is not only damaging to them now but also affects their chances of being healthy later. We already have record levels of long-term adult sickness that is disastrous for the economy and society. That will only get worse if we don’t act. The UK has 15 million obese people and rising, and the annual cost is a staggering £58 billion each year, adding over £500 to our tax bill.
The so-called “golden window of opportunity” between the ages of 0 and 2 (including nutrition during pregnancy) is when the majority of a child’s health blueprint is set. From kidney structures that will affect their blood pressure, to the amount of fat deposited around their organs and even the diversity of their gut microbes, we can predict metabolic health factors in early childhood.
Most mistakes in feeding children today stem from clever marketing that has fooled us into thinking we are choosing healthy foods. Giving children fruit juices or squash instead of water contributes not only to the development of a preference for sweet foods but to an increase in tooth decay and obesity. Fruit juices often disguise themselves as healthy “vitamin-rich” options or “super smoothies”, except they are completely lacking in fibre and have the same sugar as cola drinks. Others claim no added sugars but are sickly sweet due to a concoction of artificial sweeteners that have negative effects on gut health and encourage the search for sweeter things.
Ultra-processed “weaning food” snacks; squeezy pouches of “balanced meals” and various crunchy, melty puffs made with “real” vegetables — these packaged artificial concoctions are not real food and they don’t allow for young children to learn about what food looks, feels and tastes like. I have seen parents give toddlers pouches at restaurants instead of letting them try a little of their own food. This is not how we evolved to learn about food, and stops a child from developing a varied palate and being open to tasting new things.
Later in life, there are two smaller windows of opportunity linked with rapid growth that can improve a child’s metabolic health. One around age seven and another around 13. The biggest issue we see with children of school age is the high consumption of ultra-processed foods such as sweet yoghurts and breakfast cereals, biscuits, snacks and chocolate bars. Convenience foods are highly palatable but offer nothing in terms of fundamental nutrients for good physical and mental health.
We need to stop this British diet of “chicken nuggets, chips and juice” for children, and feed them a greater variety of nutritious fruits and vegetables.
Children’s gut health is determined by a community of gut microbes — called our microbiome — that is hugely flexible until about age three, when it settles into a more adult blueprint, and affects our future immune and metabolic health. That’s why it is crucial we act by eating the right diet to create a healthy, diverse microbiome in childhood.
The UK has both the highest rates of ultra-processed-food consumption in children and the highest rates of obesity in Europe. We need to start prioritising our children’s diet above the short-term interest of giant food companies and their Westminster lobbyists. If we don’t act soon, it will be impossible.
Professor Tim Spector is co-founder of ZOE, the personalised nutrition company, and author of Food for Life and Spoon Fed.
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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-diet-6vwjgzg5b |
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