Especially in these times of the pandemic, they must avoid industrially processed food
Kids and adolescents are particularly suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic, forced as they are to limit their social interactions. Addingto their agony is the callousness of the society and the food industry in mindlessly dishing them unhealthy food that imperils their health in the long run. Ultra-processed foods such as packaged baked goods and snacks, fizzy drinks, and sugary cereals are some of the unhealthy foods- often containing high levels of added sugar, fat, and/or salt, but lacking in vitamins and fibre — that coupled with physical inactivity are fast emerging as a serious health challenge. Excess TV watching, stress, overeating due to easy home delivery options, and low cost of these foods is the over whelming routine during the pandemic, complicating matters further. The children are threatened by obesity. India is next to China, with 14.4 million obese kids. Changing life styles and eating habits on account of Covid-19 may push the number to an alarming 17 million by 2025. Excess sugar/salt laced foods can lead to NCDs like diabetes, tooth decay, heart disease, bad cholesterol, and fatty liver. Psychological, emotional, and developmental problems may also crop upbecause of a poor diet.
The Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) has widened the definition of junks and suggested a new acronym ‘JUNCS’ foods, to cover a wide variety of concepts related to unhealthy foods (Junk foods, Ultra-processed foods, Nutritionally-inappropriate foods, Caffeinated/colored/carbonated foods/beverages, and Sugar-sweetened beverages). Consumption of these foods and beverages is associated with higher free-sugar and energy intake, higher body mass index, and possibly with adverse cardiometabolic consequences in children and adolescents. The IAP recommends children and adolescents avoiding ‘JUNCS’ by limiting limit their consumption to not morethan one serving per week. Recently, the World Health Assembly (WHA) agreed to a global framework for evidence-based cut-offs for anti-nutrients like sugar, salt, and saturated fat present in packaged food. The WHO has identified Front of Package Labeling (FOPL) as “one of the policy tools that can support healthy diets”. So far, 11 countries have enacted laws making FOPL mandatory while India is yet to show seriousness in the matter. It is still holding consultations to find a viable model. It is time that the Indian government introduces FOPL. What is worse, junk food advertisements are frequently shown on TV, food manufactures do not display energy contents in packaged foods, and there are confusing messages about nutrition. Industrial food processing modifies foods to change their consistency, taste, color, and shelf life by using mechanical or chemical alternation to make them more palatable, cheap, appealing, and convenient. Home-cooked meals avoid such processes. A recent survey by the Centre for Science and Environment presented a grim scenario of almost every child consuming packaged sugar-sweetened beverages (92.1 per cent), salted packaged food (94.3 per cent), and sweet packaged food (95.1 per cent). Over 50 per cent of the children consumed packaged food or beverages atleast once a day. Other studies show a high prevalence offast-food consumption among school children and undergraduates. The most common junk food items are samosas, patties, burgers, manchurian, noodles, pizza, chips, chocolate, bakery products, soft drinks, sugar-sweetened beverages, and caffeinated drinks. It is imperative that the government fixes scientific limits and labelling for salt, sugar, saturated fats, and other harmful ingredients in these products. The government should ban advertisements of unhealthy foods, discourage consumption of ultra-processed foods by raising taxes on these products. and making the right to eat healthy a public movement.
(The writer is President-Elect, International Paediatric Association (IPA) and renowned paediatrician. The views expressed are personal.)
