To Optimize Your Child’s Health, Learn to Avoid Ultra-processed Foods
We all have heard it: We are what we eat. A healthy diet in childhood is a key to optimal growth and development, life-long healthy eating habits, and greatly reducing a person’s risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
In recent years we have done a great job decreasing childhood consumptions of some unhealthy foods (sugary drinks consumption is way down), but we are still challenged with the extremely unhealthy ultra-processed foods which now make up as much as two-thirds of the calories children eat. Let’s explore what are ultra-processed foods, why they are bad for children, and some healthy ways to avoid them.
What Are Ultra-processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods are products that contain little natural or whole food substances and have been extensively altered through industrial processing. These foods contain preservatives, artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, and other additives. They are often high in processed sugars, unhealthy fats and are a poor source of healthy nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
A quick search of ultra-processed foods provides examples and the likely reason that children now consume up to two-thirds of their calories from these unhealthy products.
1. Sugary cereals: Many breakfast cereals marketed towards children are highly processed and packed with added sugars, artificial flavors, and colors.
2. Fruit-flavored snacks: These snacks often marketed as containing fruit flavors but are typically made with little to no real fruit and are high in sugars and additives.
3. Packaged snacks: Items like chips, cookies, crackers, and snack bars are convenient options for children but tend to be high in unhealthy fats, sugars, and sodium.
4. Fast food: Hamburgers, fries, chicken nuggets, and other fast-food items are popular among children but are typically high in calories, unhealthy fats, and sodium.
5. Processed meats: Hot dogs, sausages, and lunch meats are common components of children's diets but are often high in saturated fats, sodium, and preservatives.
6. Sweetened beverages: Fruit juices, flavored milk, soda, and sports drinks are frequently consumed by children but can be high in added sugars and empty calories.
7. Frozen meals: Many frozen meals marketed towards children are highly processed and contain high levels of sodium, unhealthy fats, and preservatives.
How to Identify Ultra-processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods rarely contain whole, recognizable ingredients like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or lean proteins. They often have long lists of ingredients, many of which are unfamiliar, artificial, or highly processed. Ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives are all signs of ultra-processed foods. Next time you buy something as simple and common as peanut butter, take a look at the labels of a few brands.
Why are Ultra-processed Foods Bad for Children
The incredibly convenient and tasty ultra-processed foods provide many challenges for a child’s health, growth, and development. These foods are low in nutrients that are essential for early brain development and bone/muscle strength. They are high in unhealthy fats and have added sugars – key leading factors in obesity.
Ultra-processed foods satisfy a child’s caloric needs with empty calories (calories with no nutritional value) and suppress their appetite for more healthy foods. Foods high in added sugars, fats, and salt can be highly satisfying to children, creating a unhealthy “comfort” food that is hard to resist during times of stress.
Children who eat ultra-processed foods will be less likely to learn to eat healthy whole, unprocessed foods, making it harder to adopt a balanced diet later in life. Afterall, healthy habits begin in early childhood.
Suggestions on How to Avoid Ultra-Processed Foods
The best strategy is prevention. Simply do not make ultra-processed foods a part of a child’s normal routine. Certainly, it is not reasonable to expect no exposure, but keep it limited. Likewise, parents will need to avoid consumption of these foods since children want what their parents have.
If ultra-processed foods are already a part of the home food pantry, consider buying them less frequently, and replacing them with healthier options. As usual, help your child shop with you for healthy foods, give them choices of healthy foods, and model healthy eating.
