Children’s Health: Food Additives
When I was a kid I gave my mother grief in the mornings: I never got out of bed on time and was a fussy breakfast eater. Remembering those mornings I understand the stress that parents go through, trying to give their children a nutritious breakfast and healthy packed lunch to send them off to school with. Hectic lifestyles will usually result in parents reaching for the quickest food options available, and this usually comes from a packet. Which food is picked is usually the product that appears to be the healthiest option, makes the best health claims and which one tastes the best. Unless you’ve studied nutrition it can be very difficult (and time consuming) to stand in the aisles analysing each product, and then you’ve got to make the final decision – will my child eat this? So we place our trust in the companies. Surely they know what they’re doing, right? Surely they just want to do what’s right?
Food companies know that parents want to do the best for their child, and will market their products based around a ‘health perk’, often hoping that this will distract the consumers from the other nasties in the food, or the lack of other important nutrients such as fibre, vitamins and minerals. Some of the foods most susceptible to this are breakfast cereals, formulas, and snack foods. Products that are “rich in calcium/iron/protein for healthy bones/energy/muscles” can sometimes be rich in sugar, low in fibre and/or high in preservatives. This does not balance out, creating a health food.
Artificial colours and preservatives
Over the last 50 years we developed the ability to travel further and faster. Our diets have changed dramatically, incorporating a bigger variety of foods which are now usually available year round. More recently, over the last 15 years foods have changed even further with the use of additives to make our foods more colourful, tasty and less perishable. Some of these additives have been well tested and shown to be safe, while others have been linked to many health problems such as hyperactivity, asthma and skin problems. The most common problematic ones are artificial colours, such as Brilliant Blue 133, Tartrazine 102, Sunset Yellow 110, Amaranth 123 or Fast Green 143. Additives like these are derived from petroleum and are not considered safe in other countries such as USA, UK and Norway.
One of the reasons additives are still used in Australia is because it cuts down the costs of making food: for example to reduce the cocoa in chocolate milk while keeping the brown colour they add a little bit of cocoa plus Brilliant Blue 133 and Brown HT 155; to give the appearance of fruit in some yoghurts they add a variety of red, yellow and blue colours.
In many cases the colour is added to make food look more real as manufacturers skimp on quality raw ingredients to save a few dollars, or the colour is added specifically to increase the products’ marketing appeal to young children in particular.
In other countries they use different, safer colouring options based on real foods, and while these are available in Australia they are rarely used because it is the more expensive option.
Added Sugar
When you look at the labels of some foods (not just children’s foods) you may be surprised to see that there is a lot of sugar added into savoury as well as sweet foods. Some common savoury foods containing added sugar include sauces, salad dressings and muesli bars.
So if 1 tsp of sugar = 4g, you can determine how many teaspoons of sugar are in a meal by dividing the amount of sugar in 100g or a serving by 4. There can be up to 4 teaspoons of sugar in some yoghurts, 2½ in a tin of baked beans and up to 6½ in a small bar of milk chocolate.
Look at the labels on foods, and check for added sugars. Sugar comes under the guise of many names: fructose, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, glucose syrup, lactose, corn syrup, hydrolysed starch, inverted sugar, or concentrated fruit juice. The nutrition panel details how much total sugar is contained in a food, but this can include added and natural sugars.
When children consume sugar-rich foods they get an artificial high, rapidly raising the levels of sugar and adrenaline in their bloodstream. This can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, and difficulties concentrating.
This rapid rise in blood sugar levels stimulates the release of too much insulin, which causes children’s blood sugar levels to plummet, resulting in irritable and cranky kids. Regular consumption of these foods can lead to children becoming overweight or obese, which is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. It also increases their risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life.
Large amounts of sugar in the diet can also interfere with the absorption of calcium and zinc, important minerals for children’s health and development.
6 teaspoons of sugar a day can suppress the effectiveness of your immune system by up to 25%. Sugar competes with vitamin C uptake into immune cells. I often recommend to parents whose children have a cold or ‘flu to cut out sugar while they are ill so as to allow the immune system to reach its full potential. If your child constantly has an infection, perhaps you should consider reducing or eliminating sugar from the diet.
Frequent consumption of sugary foods and beverages is one of the leading causes of tooth decay in children.
But they’re fun!
Many parents fondly look at lollies and junk food with nostalgia and think that if they don’t give their children these foods they are missing out on a vital experience of childhood.
Now that you know the facts about some of these additives, you may look at your child’s lunchbox or the next birthday party spread through new eyes. Ask yourself if you really want your family to be eating these chemicals in our foods which are not even allowed in foods in other countries. Think about the long term health effects of these chemicals and added sugar and whether or not you want your family to eat real foods or so called “fun” foods filled with additives.
Helpful ways to reduce your child’s additive and sugar intake
- Get creative and make healthy versions of your kid’s favourite sweet foods. Fruits such as berries and bananas are an ideal way to sweeten cakes, muffins, sauces and smoothies.
- Many yoghurts aimed at children contain too much sugar, additives and preservatives. Make your own by getting a natural full-fat yoghurt and add your own fruits, such as a dollop of fruit puree, or from 9 months on chopped dried fruit (choose unsulphured).
- Instead of giving your child sweet snacks that are high in added sugar and low in nutrients, offer them healthier naturally sweet foods, such as fruit, small amounts of sun-dried fruit and fruit yoghurts.
- Choose whole oats, natural mueslis, puffed cereals (rice, millet, buckwheat) and other wholegrains for breakfast instead of sugary breakfast cereals.
- Watch out for so called health bars and breakfast bars in your supermarket — often marketed as healthy snacks or ‘breakfast on the run’. You are best-off making your own muesli bars and biscuits for your kids to take to school and for after-school snacks.
- Avoid giving soft drinks to your kids. Instead mix a little 100% fruit juice with some natural mineral water.
- Avoid using cordials as they are a concentrated form of sugar. Use 100% fruit juice as cordial, diluted with water.
- Keep lollies and chocolates for special occasions such as birthday parties, and try to go for those free from additives and synthetic colours.
- Make it extra special by getting the kids involved in making the sweets at home – they’ll have fun making them with you, and will appreciate the treats all the more because they’ve helped make them.
Resources:
Mindd Foundation – Practitioner database of those specialising in paediatric disorders such as ADHD, Asthma, allergies, autism, chronic illness, depression, learning and language delay, and digestive and behavioural disorders.
Children’s Cookbooks:
