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With recent problems with child obesity there has been some calls from some nutritionists to feed children less fat. It should be noted that is only some nutritionists (those aligned with the Heart Foundation Philosophy) who are saying this.
Having said that, there are some fats that we should try to stop feeding to children, that includes rancid polyunsaturated oils and trans-fats (ie in packets of chips and fast-food fries).
Babies receive about 53% of their calories as fat from breast milk, the fat in breast milk is predominantly saturated and mono-unsaturated, and is a rich source of nutrition (including cholesterol). After a child is weaned, their nutritional requirements will not vary too much, they develop an ability to absorb solid foods. The solid foods they consume should continue to provide a similar nutrition to breast milk.
The Canadian nutrition guidelines recommend that fat requirements decrease until growing period ends, (usually at age 16-17 years). As they recommend that adults should be getting about 30% of their calories as fat, this entails grading this down from 53% from weaning to 30% at puberty ending. While this is not a hard set rule, it does recognise the importance of children getting sufficient healthy fats and cholesterol for full development. This guideline is based on many studies that have shown children on low-fat diets show abnormal growth development.
It is quite likely that reducing healthy fats for children will have little benefit for reducing obesity, and may only make it worse, driving children to eat more highly refined foods to get their energy needs.
Childhood obesity can be prevented by eliminating the following food in children's diets:
lemonades and cola
sweetened milks (including fat reduced milks)
white bread
packet chips and biscuits
sweet biscuits
fast-food fries (try to stick to Fish and Chip shops that use unrefined saturated oils)
Fast Food soft-serves
Donuts
margarines - especially those containing trans-fats
Processed Cheeses (contain hydrogenated oils)
Any food that uses "flavour enhancers" MSG etc.
Special treats that can be consumed in moderation:
Good quality chocolate (with cocoa butter or milk fats only)
Good quality ice-cream (emulsified with egg yolks)
Home baked cakes (using butter or coconut oil)
Foods that are good for children
Full-fat yoghurts (lightly sweetened with natural sweeteners)*
Full-Fat milk (preferably unhomogenised)*
Natural cheeses
Cream and butter
Eggs
Dried Fruits (in moderation) **warning - see below
Fresh Fruits
All Nuts (if no allergies)
Fresh meats and offal (ie liver, kidneys)
Home made broths ans soups
Children have different tastes to adults, being much more naturally attracted to sweet foods and rich foods, and generally do not acquire tastes for strong bitter foods, and fibrous vegetables. There is no need to push them onto adult tastes too early, and acknowledge that they may not always eat vegetables. The important of providing fresh fruit for children is that it provides the nourishment they may otherwise miss out on because of their fussy tendency to avoid vegetables. Fruit juices are not a substitute for fresh fruit, and can actually be a problem. Childrens tastes strongly reflect their nutritional needs for lots of energy and protein, but these taste desires are very easily mislead towards junk foods, which imitate the same natural food stimulants.
* - natural sweeteners include raw honey, maple syrup. these are not recommended however for children under two who lack enzymes for digesting many non lactose sugars.
* - Fresh milk is generally OK for people of Caucasian origin. Lactose intolerance and an inability to digest milk protein is particularly common in non caucasian people.
The best milk is unpasteurized, however this is not available to most people, and those who can access raw milk should be very careful that it comes only from disease free animals. In general, raw milk is a very safe product and contains many pathogen fighting components. However due to the paranoia against raw milk, parents who feed their children raw-milk are likely to face attention from child-welfare departments if for some reason the child were to become sick, even if it was totally unrelated to consuming raw-milk. The benefits of raw milk should be weighed up against the possible threat of interference from child welfare departments.
I don't think this has happened in New Zealand as yet, but raw milk issues have been used in custody disputes in the US.
** - dried fruit are often preserved with sulphites which are implicated in causing and triggering asthma. Organic dried fruit which don't use sulphites are not as appealing from a colour perspective, but are to be recommended. |
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1 Comments
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Comment By: Rius Rius |
12:38AM 22/6/2007 |
| this website is so hoooooollliiiiiieeeeeeeeeeehhhh! |
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Current Poll Results
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The milk I consume most is: |
Naturalea 4% unhomogenised (
12 %)
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Farmhouse (4%) unhomogenised (
4 %)
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Standard (3.3%) homogenised (
9 %)
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Low Fat Milk Homogenised (
31 %)
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Real Farm Milk - non pasteurised (
43 %)
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