Introduction
It can be difficult to provide children, particularly young children, with snacks between meals that are both palatable and healthy. A recent study by Public Health England found that primary-aged children have up to 3 sugary snacks per day. This poses a challenge for parents and often it is difficult to determine what snacks are sugary and which are not.
However, it is essential that children are provided with healthy options for snacking. A staggering 25% of children aged 2-15 are classified as medically overweight or obese. This is a serious and growing problem, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) notes that childhood obesity is a “double burden”. In addition to all of the same problems and health issues those obesity causes, in children it is linked to additional risks as adults. Essentially, it is dangerous to be obese as an adult, and children that are overweight and obese are significantly more likely to be obese adults (Gordon-Larsen, The & Adair 2010).
It goes without saying, however that most parents are aware of the risks that being overweight or obese give their children. Even more so, almost no parents seek to allow their children to become overweight, or are apathetic to it. The essential crux of the difficulty for parents, particularly of young children (and so-called ‘picky eaters’) is finding healthy alternatives to snacks.
The State of Snacking
Snacks – small amounts of food consumed between or in addition to meals – are not inherently unhealthy. A study (Van de Venne, 1991) found no specific difference in the health of people who consumed the same amount of calories in either two or seven meals in a day. In their advice to parents regarding planning snacks and exercise for children, the Government of Florida (2004) said:
“Snacks are important for young children since they can only eat small amounts of food at a time, and can’t wait many hours between meals”
Instead the issue is not snacking in and of itself, but rather the content of those snacks. Fat and in particular, sugar content of foods consumed at snack times are a serious cause of concern for children and parents.
Current WHO advice suggests that around 5% of our daily calories should come from sugars. For a boy aged 10, that works out to about 100 calories a day and slightly less for a girl of the same age. 1g of sugar has about 4 calories, so children of this age should have no more than 25g of sugar per day. One can of Coca-Cola has about 42kCal, or just shy of half the total a child should have per day. When you add in a fun-size mars bar at 32kCal you are rapidly approaching the daily total with just a small snack.
Additionally, many children start their day off with a sharp intake of sugar. Popular cereals such as Frosties (11g/44kCal per bowl), Coco Pops (10.5g/42kCal) and even Cheerios (6.2g/24.8kCal) take up a significant chunk of a child’s daily sugar amount. This combined with a mid-morning and after school snack quickly adds up, and this does not account of any sugars in their lunch of dinner. It is easy to see how parents accidentally allow children to go over their daily limits in this way.
However, a particularly insidious aspect of this issue are snacks that seem to be, or are marketed as healthy. Good examples of these are yoghurts, fruit juices and cereal bars, which at first glance seem like easy and healthy alternatives to candy or fizzy drinks. The reality, however is that these snacks can be just as full of sugar. For example, in one pot of Original Strawberry flavour Yoplait, there is 18g of sugar (72kCal). In a 156g Tracker Peanut bar, there is 7.3g (29.2kCal), and the most egregious example a 200ml carton has 20.7g (82.8kCal). Ironically, this can mean that a well-intentioned parent could swap their child’s coke and mars bar with a yoghurt and apple juice and increase their sugar intake.
Of course, these figures are not as simple as they initially seem. There are many types of sugar, broadly categorised into Brown, White and Liquid. There is also a difference between naturally occurring sugars (such as Fructose in fruit) and added sugar. Additionally, there is a massive range of words, phrases and terms associated with sugar in food. Even the most conscientious and health-conscious parents can struggle telling dextrose for lactose, or simple and complex carbohydrates.
Different types of sugar affect bodies differently. For example, glucose is the most basic form of sugar, is essential for energy in the body. All carbohydrates are broken down into glucose by the body to provide energy to cells. It is therefore the epitome of “simple” sugars. Beyond this, there are natural sugars and added sugars. While too much of either can bring problems, the primary concern for parents should be the amount of added sugars, such as sucrose. The Mayo Clinic, a leading medical research hospital in the United States gives the following advice (2017):
“Check for ingredients ending in “ose” — that’s the chemical name for many types of sugar, such as fructose, glucose, maltose and dextrose.”
While parents should not totally ignore levels of sugar in snacks like fruit and milk, it is much more important for them to be aware of the sugar which does not occur naturally in their children’s food.
The good news is that levels of sugar consumption per capita in the United Kingdom are falling. In fact, a paper by the Institute of Economic Affairs (Snowdon, 2014) noted that per capita consumption had fallen by 16% between 1992 and 2014. Additionally some companies have begun to reduce the total amount of sugars they add to their products. For example Kellogg’s announced in November of 2017 that it would cut the sugar added to Coco Pops, Rice Krispies, and Rice Krispies Multi-Grain Shapes by up to 40%.
Despite this, however, levels of obesity and childhood obesity have been rising. Dealing with weight issues in children is not a one step solution – it involves increasing exercise, education and diet. However, parents can help their children by choosing healthy and less sugary snacks for them. In summary, snacks are not necessarily getting more sugary, but increasingly parents feel unable to determine what foods have “the right amount” of sugar.
Problems and Stressors
Aside from occasional rewards or treats, effectively no parent intends to provide inappropriately sugary foods to their children on a regular basis. Instead, the reason parents provide their children with unhealthy and sugary snacks is highly complicated and requires more than a name-and-shame approach to resolve. Sociologist Dina Rose Ph.D gave ten reasons why (American) parents would give these snacks – in these proportions – to their children. These were:
- We don’t believe children are capable of liking healthy food.
- We think that childhood means eating candy, cookies, cake
- We like making our kids happy.
- We want our children to eat, reliably.
- We don’t want to have a fight every day, every meal.
- We’re sick and tired of throwing out food that our kids don’t touch.
- We’ve tried, really tried, to teach our children to eat fruits and vegetables. We can’t think of anything else to try. We’re tired.
- We don’t think our kids eat that poorly because we make sure they eat at least one veggie per day. And those chicken nuggets? They have protein.
- We don’t want our children to be hungry.
- Our kids like this food, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
While these “reasons” are somewhat flippant, they essentially make the reasons for such behaviour clear. It is not that parents are confused and think that mars bars are healthier than celery; it is that they struggle to find a compromise solution that works for them. It isn’t that they think it is good to give children excessive amount of sugary snacks; it is that some snacks that are marketed as “healthy” contain excessive sugars.
Research conducted on behalf of Yazoo in 2017 found that while 77% of parents felt guilty about the amount of sugary snacks they provided to their children, British parents give their children unhealthy snacks 21 times a week on average. So-called “pester power”, or children asking for such items can have a dramatic impact on parents. This is particularly true for parents who are stressed or time-limited in other ways, such as long working hours or during times of emotional distress such as parental separation.
In an analysis of the role of food advertisement in relation to childhood obesity, OFCOM (2004) noted that many mothers spoke of “having no time” to cook or make proper snacks. This, in addition to the variety and range of snack foods available and their children’s desire for them created a toxically attractive situation for parents. Essentially, those with the least time are the most likely to seek quicker and easier snacks, and those snacks are in turn the most likely to contain high amounts of added sugars.
Part of the issue is how difficult it can be for parents to recognise the problem, and seek support and help with healthy and low-sugar snacks. A 2014 survey for VoucherCodesPro.co.uk found that a fifth of parents said they regularly lied to others about the amount of “junk” foods they fed their children. Generally, parents fear being “judged” for the amount of sugary and unhealthy snacks they provide for their children.
Additionally, many parents struggle to recognise that their child is overweight – a report commissioned by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of Bristol, University College London, and Imperial College London, and funded by the National Institute for Health Research found that 31% of parents underestimated their children’s weight. Only 14% of parents of obese children aged 4-7 considered their child overweight. In a 2008 study (Smith et al.) 75% of parents underestimated the size of an overweight child, while 50% underestimated the size of an obese child. This suggests that it is difficult for parents to recognise the issue, however what is perhaps even more surprising is that a similar study found that healthcare professionals had nearly the same difficulty. Parents therefore should not feel shame for not recognising the issue sooner; instead, they should be more aware that of the issue, its causes and most crucially of support that is available to counteract it.
What to do
The issue of helping your children to snack healthier, and to reduce sugar intake can be confronting. However, there are a few suggestions that parents can implement in order to make a start towards improving the quality of the snacks they provide.
The Mayo Clinic suggests that parents simply do not keep unhealthy snacks in the house. Children as less likely to ask for such items if they are not freely available – and via this solution, snacks and desserts that are unhealthy become special treats rather than daily food.
The NHS’s “Change4life” campaign notes that sugary drinks are often the biggest individual source of added sugars to children’s diets. As such, they suggest a swap to diet versions, no added-sugars versions (such as dilutes), low-fat milk or water.
New South Wales in Australia’s government makes the suggestion that parents ought to set limits on the number of sugary snacks for children. They also state that parents should explain why these limits are being imposed, and Parenting NI always suggests communication is important.
Any changes, particularly if they are significant or if your children are older should involve the children. Such strategies, where the parent involves the child and explains the reasons why they are doing what they are doing are more likely to succeed.
There are a wide range of organisations, campaigns and supports for anyone looking to improve, such as:
Safefood.eu: Safefood.eu is an all-Island implementation body, set up as part of the Good Friday Agreement. Its remit is to promote food safety and knowledge of nutrition issues. They have a number of exceptionally useful food and diet guides, in particular their START programme, which is specifically designed to help parents make healthier choices for their children.
Food Standards Agency: The Food Standards Agency is an excellent governmental resource to help parents determine what food and snacks are best for their children. In addition, they have a great deal of Northern Ireland specific information.
NIDirect – The Northern Ireland Executive’s website, NIDirect has a number of pages suggesting what parents can do to help improve the quality of the snacks they provide for children.
Public Health Agency – The PHA has a number of excellent guides on how best to provide children with healthy food and snacks.
Finally, Parenting NI has a free helpline – 0808 8010 722 – where our professional parent support workers can help you with this and other parenting issues.
Conclusion
Sugar is increasingly a problem for parents seeking to provide filling and nutritional snacks for their children. Children are marketed to – sometimes in a very direct manner – and often resist healthier options. When combined with the time pressures on modern parents, this creates a difficult and confusing atmosphere for parents.
It can be very difficult for parents to realise and deal with issues relating to sugar in snacks and foods their children eat. While many parents feel frustrated and some even feel shame regarding the foods they feed their children as part of their snacks, there is no need to deal with this alone.
It is never too early or too late to improve the nutritional value of the snacks provided to your children. If you need help or support, or want further information regarding how to improve, reach out to one of the many organisations in this paper who can assist you.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2009.451/full
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood_consequences/en/
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/health/hsni-first-results-16-17.pdf
https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Briefing_The%20Fat%20Lie.pdf
