Full cream or low-fat milk for children?

Today we’re looking at the recommendations about milk for children –it’s a topic that comes up in many of my talks and consultations with parents.

Let’s face it – parents want to make sure their children are eating a healthy diet and learning healthy eating habits. One of the questions we often get asked is whether you should be giving your children full cream or low-fat milk.

Milk and dairy foods are important in children’s diet. They are one of the main sources of fat as well as calcium, protein and other essential nutrients. Now, everybody needs fat in their diet especially young children. Fats in food provide children with :

• a concentrated source of calories/kilojoules
• essential fats that our bodies can’t make
•  one of the building blocks of every cell in the body.

However, the main kind of fat in dairy foods is saturated fat. Saturated fat is the kind of fat that can, over time, lead to high cholesterol levels in the blood which in turn can lead to blocked arteries, stroke and heart attack later in life.

So the question is ‘Should toddlers and preschoolers be on low fat diets to protect them from later heart disease?’

Young children are growing rapidly. Not as rapidly as in their first year but fast enough to need lots of food energy (kilojoules or calories) for growth. Their stomachs are small so they can’t eat big quantities at one sitting. At least, most of them can’t – there’s always an exception to every rule!

So each meal or snack needs to include at least some food that contains fat, so that they can fill up on a smaller quantity of food than if they were having only foods that are low in fat. For example, at morning tea offer fruit (no fat) and crackers spread with margarine, cream cheese or avocado (sources of fat)  After the period of rapid growth, we want children to cut down on saturated fat and eat oods with better fats – mono and poly-unsaturated fats, such as peanut butter, avocado, vegetable oils In answer to the question about low-fat milk: the recommendations of the health authorities are that until 2 years of age, between 2 and 5 years, children drink full cream milk reduced fat milk and low fat milk from five years onwards. Reduced fat milks usually have some fat but less than
full cream eg light white, low fat milks have no fat eg skim, Shape,Tone

In summary:

-  Dairy foods are a significant source of saturated fats in all our diets

- The basis of these recommendations is to reduce the intake of saturated fats in the diet.

-      Saturated fats contribute to increased cholesterol levels and blocked arteries which can increase the risk of heart disease and some cancers in  the long term.

-      There are plenty of foods that contain ‘good’ fats (mono and poly-unsaturated) that are good to include in children’s diets eg peanut butter, avocado, margarine, oils, mayonnaise.

A little bit (more) sunshine

It’s winter and it’s cold and raining. Our children are out in the sun much less than in the warmer months. Levels of vitamin D go down in winter becuase the ultra violet radiation from the sun is weaker. Vitamin D forms in the skin when it is exposed to the sun. . We need Vitamin D to absorb calcium and keep bones and muscles healthy. There has been some recent research linking low levels of Vitamin D with an increase in the risk of allergies in children.

We can’t rely of food for an adequate amount of Vitamin D and sunscreen blocks the ultra violet rays that we need to form vitamin D. So children need more time in the sun on those sunny winter days than in the heat of summer. In the northern parts of Australia (Brisbane and Darwin) a few minutes each day without sunscreen is enough. In the southern states including Sydney, children need 2-3 hours per week of sun exposure to the skin in winter compared to a few minutes each day in summer.

You can see the Cancer Council’s advice about sun exposure and Vitamin D at http://www.cancer.org.au/File/Cancersmartlifestyle/Howmuchsunisenough.pdf.

Picture from photostock /FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Packing Lunch

Packing lunch boxes is a task that parents do thousands of times. Some find it easy, others find it difficult to know what to put in there. If your child doesn’t eat the food you pack, it doesn’t mean you got it wrong. There are many reasons that food comes back home in the lunch box:

1. Not enough time to eat – some children are busier playing than eating. These children often eat more at afternoon tea after school than at lunch time.
2. There is more food in the lunch box than your child has room for – children may eat more at lunch one day and less the next. It is hard to judge the exact amount every day. It is important to accept that your child will eat if they are hungry. Don’t get upset if they haven’t eaten everything that you packed. They can eat the rest of their lunch for afternoon tea.
3. Your child is not particularly hungry at lunch time. They may have eaten a big breakfast and something at morning tea. If they haven’t eaten much at lunch they will make up for it over the rest of the day.

 GOLDEN RULES

• Make sure your child has breakfast before school. Breakfast can be fast and simple such as a glass of milk with Milo®, a commercial liquid breakfast drink, a piece of fruit, a tub of yogurt. Something quick is better than nothing.
• Children need 2 to 3 serves of vegetables a day. Include some vegetables in their lunch box. This can include a vegetable based soup, a container of salad vegetables, a small can of baked beans or corn kernels.
• Pack water or milk to drink. Milk can be sent in individual serves of long life plain or flavoured milk. Choose reduced-fat milk for pre-school children and low fat milk for school-age children.
• Dairy foods, such as yogurt, milk, custard and rice pudding desserts can be packed in an insulated bag. There are many bags available that are effective for keeping food cold. Refrigerate the food overnight.
• Freeze water the night before. Pop it in the lunch box. It will gradually defrost and be nice and cold by lunchtime. It will also keep other food cold, such as cold meats, tuna and cheese.
• Variety is the basis of good nutrition. Vary the sandwich fillings, vegetables, dairy foods and fruit that you pack for school. There is no need to include gourmet foods to ensure variety.
• Have a supply of small plastic containers available to pack raw vegetables, yogurt, baked beans, pasta salad, tabouli, couscous salad, sushi (no raw fish for school)

Children’s junk food ads ‘made for adults’

The following article was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on November 1st 2010. What do you think?

ADVERTISERS are bypassing rules aimed at curbing junk food marketing to children by claiming their ads are targeting adults, an analysis claims.The industry ad watchdog dismissed complaints about ads for Oreo, Smarties and LCMs rice bars after accepting manufacturers’ claims that their ads were aimed at adults, despite the presence of children in the television commercials. Ads for chips, sweets or fizzy drinks are covered by industry guidelines only if their content is “directed primarily at children”. Health campaigners such as the Obesity Policy Coalition say the rulings by the board of the Advertising Standards Bureau have made it uncertain what constitutes an ad for children. The coalition’s senior legal adviser, Sarah MacKay, said the lack of definition in the rules had allowed a loophole for advertisers to emerge. The Oreo and Smarties ads were pulled after they were found to have been aired during children’s programs, thereby breaching the industry rule that says only ads for healthy foods can be shown in children’s programs. “It seems an absurd outcome that an ad that only features children playing a childlike game [as in the Oreo ad] that is shown in Dora the Explorer is not captured by the code,” Ms MacKay said. “We are worried that it’s going to set a precedent. If these aren’t ads directed at children then I don’t know what is.” A complaint about a Smarties website was also rejected by the bureau’s board after it agreed with Nestle that the content of the website, which included a colouring competition for three- to 10-year-olds, was not directed at children but rather to mothers as an aid for craft ideas for children. There are four industry codes governing the advertising of junk food to children, but not all agree on a single definition of a child or a children’s program. Health campaigners have consistently argued the industry’s narrow definition of where junk food ads cannot appear – namely in children’s programs – is meaningless because more children are watching popular early evening shows. An Australian Communications and Media Authority review in 2006 found that the average television audience of under-12s leaps from 80,000 between 4pm and 5pm – when children’s programs are aired – to 500,000 between 7pm and 8pm. No one at the bureau or the Oreo manufacturer, Kraft, was able to comment. Nestle apologised for airing the Smarties ad in children’s programs.

The Sunshine Vitamin

At this time of the year, our vitamin D levels are likely to be at their lowest. We produce vitamin D from direct UV sunlight on our skin. Most of us have been rugged up for the winter, not getting as much sun exposure as in the warmer months. Studies have shown that a growing number of children and adults in Australia have low levels of vitamin D.

 Children need vitamin D for bone growth. Vitamin D helps absorb calcium. In Australia most of our vitamin D is from the sun. We don’t get much from food.

Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers needs to ensure adequate vitamin D levels so that their breastmilk has enough for their infant.

Sunscreen blocks the UV sunlight so children need to get some direct UV sunlight in the earlier or later hours of the day, when the UV index is lower. The chart gives you details of how much time you need in the sun and when is the best time to get it. Howmuchsunisenough

Energy foods for new mums

New mums have a demanding job which requires a lot of energy. At the same time they are not always getting a decent amount of sleep. This is a time when what you eat can help you get through the day (and night).

The basis of good eating for new mums is eating regular meals and planned snacks. Just as your baby needs to eat every few hours, you will also benefit from smaller meals every few hours.

At each meal or snack, include some kind of grain food. Grain foods include any kind of bread, breakfast cereal, rice, pasta, crackers, couscous, crumpets, raisin toast, barley, oats, quinoa, noodles. The list is long so eat the grain foods that you prefer. Look for wholegrain foods as they are higher in fibre, iron, B-group vitamins, vitamin E and antioxidants. Go for low GI grain foods to keep your energy level sustained for longer.

Dairy foods are quick and easy to eat – just the kind of foods that a new mum needs. So milk, yogurt or cheese are good to include at three of your meals and snacks throughout the day. If you are hungry during the night a glass of milk with Milo® or a tub of yogurt is a nutritious, filling, low GI snack.

Include fruits or vegetables at most meals and snacks. Eat lean meat, fish or chicken at one or two meals a day and you will have increased your intake of iron, which will help prevent you feeling tired and lethargic.

A healthy feeding relationship

I often hear from parents  that their child doesn’t eat anything, doesn’t eat vegetables or doesn’t eat enough. In translation that usually means that their child doesn’t eat their dinner, only eats particular foods or doesn’t eat what is served to them. If you would like to hear more, including advice about making the feeding realtionship between you and your child a healthy one, listen to this:
http://www.heinzsight.com.au/podcasts/hifas_podcast_evereed.mp3