Any chemical that is added to food or drink is given an E number. E-numbered chemicals are added for many reasons, including appearance, shelf life, texture and taste. All food additives, including those with E numbers, must be listed on the label of the food package, but only European countries have adopted the E number classification. Although each chemical additive is tested and has to pass health and safety checks before being allowed into food, what isn’t tested is the combination of chemicals, and how this combination reacts in the food or the body. Most processed food and drink contains more than one additive, with a packet of brightly coloured sweets containing upward of ten. Even an innocent-looking yoghurt can contain five or more additives if it is sweetened or made to look like the colour of a particular fruit.
Not all additives are synthetic or have harmful effects, and some have been used for years. Many children suffer no ill effects from eating additive-laden processed food, although cause and effect may not be recognized. While you may spot a link between the stomach ache or sickness your child develops after eating a specific food, a headache after eating a doughnut with bright pink icing, for example, may be missed. The full- and long-term effects of consuming additives are not known and research is ongoing. But there is enough evidence to show that as well as some children experiencing physical reactions to additives, mood, behaviour, learning, energy levels and concentration can be affected. Here is a list of additives that research has shown can cause problems in behaviour, but the list is by no means complete:
If you know or suspect your child is sensitive to certain food additives, then it is obviously advisable to avoid food and drinks that contain them.
We all accept that a healthy, well-balanced diet is essential for our child’s physical and mental well-being, but what exactly is a well-balanced diet and which foods are best and why? Children need protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and some fat in their diet just as adults do, but they need them in different quantities: more of that later. The best way to make sure your child receives a good diet is to provide a variety of foods, using fresh unprocessed food wherever possible, and limiting foods high in fat and refined sugar. So what exactly does a child need?
A calorie is a unit of energy, and the calories in food provide the fuel our bodies need in order to work. Without them our hearts wouldn’t beat, our legs and arms wouldn’t move and our brains would stop working. The body takes the calories it needs from the food we eat and stores any extra as fat, so that if we eat too many calories we put on weight and if we eat too few we lose weight. A child’s calorie requirement is different to adults’ and depends on their age, size and how active they are. Children who are going through a growth spurt need to increase their calorie intake, and boys usually need more than girls because they have bigger frames. Now follows a general guideline to the number of calories your child will need, but it is general – based on averages. In the first six months a baby will obtain most, if not all, of its calories from milk.
Everything we eat or drink, except water, contains calories. Most packaged food shows the number of calories the food contains on the label. No child should ever be calorie counting; it is the parent’s or carer’s responsibility to ensure their child receives a good diet, which will include sufficient calories for growth and development but not so many that the child becomes obese. Clearly I haven’t the space here to list the calorific content of all foods but here is the amount of calories in some of the foods popular with children.
Height and weight charts have largely been replaced by BMI (Body Mass Index) as a way to calculate the correct weight for a child (and adult). However, the calculators can sometimes be complicated to use and the results difficult to interpret, so now follows a general guideline on what your child should weigh at a given height. Remember the heights are averages, so your child will very likely be slightly above or below.
Protein is another essential requirement in a child’s diet. Protein is the building block of life. Every cell in the human body contains protein, and protein is needed for growth and repair.
Most food that is packaged lists the amount of protein per gram the food contains on the label. If protein is not shown, then the food doesn’t contain any protein. However, although this information may be helpful, if a child is given a well-balanced, varied diet which includes protein at the main meal they will have enough protein for their needs. Protein is found in many foods, even in small amounts in cake and bread. Foods rich in protein should be included daily in a child’s diet and these are:
* meat, poultry, fish, shellfish and eggs
* beans, pulses, nuts, grains and seeds
* milk and milk products
* soya products and vegetable protein foods
Some typical values of protein-rich food are:
The carbohydrates our bodies take from the food we eat are our main source of energy. The more active a child is the more carbohydrate he or she will need. Carbohydrates also have the function of setting protein to work – for growth and repair – which is why the two food groups are eaten together: meat and potatoes, bread and cheese, etc. There are two types of carbohydrate – complex and simple – and the body needs both of them:
Complex carbohydrates are found in fresh and processed foods and are sometimes called starchy foods. Foods providing complex carbohydrates include: bananas, beans, brown rice, chickpeas, lentils, nuts, oats, parsnips, potatoes, root vegetables, sweetcorn, wholegrain