Tag Archives: British children

As a parent one would love to give the best food for the children. Though the food on offer for babies is not always up to expectations.

A study of children’s diets in eight countries found that under-5s in the UK have the highest consumption rate of mass-produced, ready-made foods, with these products making up nearly two thirds of British children’s average energy intake.

When looking at the food presented on the shelves in the supermarket, so many products promise all the best for babies or for children to grow up. Research by University College London (UCL) revealed that fruit juices and smoothies were the chief culprits, with experts warning that deceptive labelling is fooling parents into buying items which are packed full of sugar.

Child-nutrition experts have expressed concerns that consuming such foods from an early age could set habits for life, fuelling the risk of deadly diseases.

Research has already linked ultra-processed children’s foods – such as baby biscuits, puff and stick-style crisps, purée pouches and ready meals – with weight gain and growth problems.

Such foods are made by industrial processing and can contain additives such as flavourings, emulsifiers, colourings and preservatives. They typically contain less nutrients and more calories, sugar and salt than less-processed options.

For sure there should be better rules imposed for clearer nutrition information on these foods to make parents aware of the hidden sugar. It is misleading and unhelpful for products to make claims such as ‘no added sugar’, when the product contains high levels of naturally occurring free sugars because it has been processed (e.g. concentrated fruit juice).

“Much of children’s daily sugar intake is hidden in packaged and ultra-processed foods, many of which are marketed as healthy,”

Lisa Heggie, lead researcher on the study at UCL, said, warning that some yoghurts contain up to four teaspoons of sugar.

A new report by First Steps Nutrition Trust, due to be published this spring, will warn of concerns about the diets of British children and call for action to reduce their intake of ultra-processed foods.

It will highlight research comparing the diets of more than 66,000 children in eight countries, including the UK, USA, Australia, Brazil and Mexico, carried out by researchers at the University of Sao Paulo. Brazil.

The study, published in the journal Obesity Reviews, found 61 per cent of the energy intake of British children aged two to five years old came from ultra-processed foods.

Preschool children in the UK had the highest consumption of processed foods of all the countries studied, ahead of the USA, at 58 per cent, and Australia, at 47 per cent.

Vicky Sibson, the charity’s director, said:

“Ultra-processed foods dominate the diets of infants and young children in the UK and there are several good reasons to be concerned about this.”

Previous research comparing 19 countries in Europe had already found that Britain’s shopping baskets contain the highest proportion of ultra-processed foods. A 2017 study found 50.7 per cent of the UK shopping basket was ultra-processed foods, compared with 14.2 per cent in France and 13.4 per cent in Italy.

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Find to read more about it:

Children eat three times as much sugar as they should do

British toddlers’ diet among worst in world, experts warn

Sugar tax may have prevented 5,000 young girls from becoming obese