Hidden sugars lurking in your child’s meals can push her sugar intake way over the recommended daily limit. Help her manage this with a healthier diet.
Hidden sugars lurking in your child’s meals can push her sugar intake way over the recommended daily limit. Help her manage this with a healthier diet.
Cereal for breakfast, a burger and smoothie for lunch, a chocolate wafer for an afternoon snack, and lemon chicken rice for dinner. Sounds like your kid’s typical daily diet? While it may seem fairly standard, the bad news is that, added up, these meals may contain up to 29 teaspoons of sugar – as much as three times the daily intake limit recommended by the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHY WORRY?
Sugar has few nutritional benefits, but can directly contribute to obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Singapore has the secondhighest proportion of diabetics among developed nations, with 10.53 per cent of people aged between 20 and 79 having the disease, according to a 2015 report by the International Diabetes Federation.
These conditions are not prevalent only in adults. More young children are suffering from such ailments due to sedentary lifestyles coupled with poor eating habits and food choices. According to the WHO’s Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, infant and childhood obesity is likely to continue into adulthood.
Furthermore, some people believe that excessive sugar intake can make children hyperactive.
CUTTING DOWN
As parents, we are responsible for the well-being of our children. That’s why it’s important for us to help them make the right food choices and provide a balanced diet. For instance, make simple substitutions to help reduce their sugar intake. For breakfast, offer them boiled eggs and wholegrain toast instead of cereal.
Are the kids craving something sweet between meals? Pick fresh fruit, vegetable sticks and granola bars instead of cakes and candy – or at least skip the sugar-laden buttercream frosting.
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