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When it comes to food intolerances or behaviour, who is the best judge of what and how food and its additives affect a child? The parents are.

A recent article in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health wrote that while some children did indeed experience a reaction to some food additives, food intolerances is ‘often confused with a range of adverse symptoms which may be coincidental to the ingestion of food’. It went further and stated that there was no evidence to suggest that food additives such as food colourings or flavours cause clinical symptoms.

On one side of the issue we have Dr Paul Turner and Professor Andrew Kemp of Sydney’s Westmead Children’s Hospital whose research has found that only 1 – 2% of children have ‘medically-verified’ food intolerance. On the other side estimates that 20% of parents currently believe that their children suffer from intolerances to food additives, food or a common ingredient found in food.
Regardless of whether or not the food intolerance is medically verified, parents are always aware that certain foods or their additives or ingredients may affect their child in different ways. We have all heard horror stories of how some children react after consuming red cordial or a lot of diary. Just because it is not officially, medically classified as food intolerance doesn’t mean that your child is not showing intolerance. Some children may not be classified as lactose intolerance and yet will suffer from an upset stomach after consuming. Some children get headaches after consuming foods with yellow, artificial colours added.

As always, if you feel you child may be suffering from an allergy or serious food intolerance you should seek medical advice, however if you child has just a mild reaction you should monitor their diet closely and consider eliminating the food products that contain the culprit. Many of the foods today that cause reactions in children are highly-processed anyway so removing them from your child’s diet is a good idea. Beware of the foods, additives, ingredients that are affecting your child, read the labels, educate yourself for the benefit of your child’s health. If an additive is causing an immediate physical reaction for your child imagine what the long-term impact may be.

Coles Supermarkets have announced recently that they will be removing all artificial colours and flavours, including MSG, from their Private brand products. A great sign that the additives are making a difference to our children and one that will hopefully make shopping for appropriate food that little bit easier.

Most parents are guilty of popping their little one down in front of the television for a few minutes of harmless distraction to give Mum or Dad a few minutes to get something done or even to just grab a breath and regain a little sanity but at what point does television viewing by small children move from harmless to harmful?

There are the same benefits of TV for children as there are for adults – fun, education and relaxation but whereas adult make their own decisions regarding the amount of viewing and the impacts excessive viewing may have on their health, children have those decisions made for them. It is the responsibility of the caregiver to inform themselves of the long-term ramifications and make appropriate decisions and guidelines regarding television viewing by small children.

Recent studies have found that children as young as three years old are watching on average 90 minutes per day, can turn on the television by themselves and are accumulating over 9 hours a week. Did you know that almost every other type of activity, even reading a book, burns more calories than watching television? The long-term risks that this type of sedentary lifestyle brings to a child include:
• weight gain
• problems with learning social norms
• bringing about a prevalence of learning difficulties

A recent Deakin University study of 427 Australian children aged 3 – 5 found that less than 17% of their time awake was spent being physically active. The time spent on activity equated to 36 minutes of moderate-vigorous activity and 110-120 minutes of light-moderate activity during a 12 hour period. The results fly in the face of Australian guidelines that state children aged 1 – 5 should be physically active for at least three hours, over the day, every day. Researchers stated that ‘Physical activity is one of a number of factors that influence the healthy growth and development of children. The value of physical activity for young children is beyond doubt, and lack of adequate physical activity is viewed as a major contributing factor to overweight and obesity, which can track into adulthood and pose many other cardiovascular and health risks. Given that early childhood is a critical period of the establishment of eating and activity behaviour, prevention strategies to ensure that children develop healthy physical activity behaviour should start as early in life as possible’.

Australia is one of only two countries to set limits for sedentary activity – less than one hour of television viewing per day for those aged 2-5 and no television at all for children under two but it appears that the message just isn’t reaching parents. Yes, television viewing has its place but not as a routine activity, not for long periods of time, and not at the expense of more physical activity. While children too need relaxation and down-time they also need physical activity to become a healthy, fully functioning adult.
If you are going to allow your child to watch television you really should be vigilant with the channel or type of programing that they view. A study has found that children who are heavily exposed to unhealthy food advertising consume, on average, 40% more calories than children that view television that has no ads.

As parents we are bombarded with the dos and don’ts of what to feed and give to our children to aid in their growth, development and general health and well-being. There seems to be research results released every other week promoting benefits of a product/food/drink/vitamin/supplement or the dangers of another. Confusing? Absolutely! One area of particular confusion is that of vitamins marketed for children. Give or not to give? How often? How Much? And which ones to give? Truthfully, if your children have a healthy, balanced diet, then vitamins of supplements aren’t required or even particularly useful. Vitamins and supplements may only offer an expensive, false sense of security.

The reliance on vitamins
Giving children vitamins and supplements creates a reliance on those products when most children will actually get all the required essential vitamins, nutrients and minerals from a balanced diet. From the American Academy of Paediatrics ‘a diet based on the Food Guide Pyramid provides adequate amounts of all the vitamins’ that a child needs.

Sending the wrong message to children
Taking vitamins and supplements on a daily basis sends the wrong message to children – that they need to take pills or tablets every day to stay healthy and that is simply untrue.

If eating a balanced diet, vitamins not needed
‘Parents are increasingly seeing supplements as a form of protection, to cover all the bases in case the kids are not getting all they need from their diet,’ says Julie Gilbert of the Dieticians Association of Australia. ‘But if they have a normal wide variety of healthy foods in their diets, there is no reason to go and waste the extra money on vitamins… It’s also teaching children they need to take pills to be healthy.

Fear from parents
Every parent worries about their children and their health and marketers profiteer on this fear, however in most cases, for most children that partake in a healthy and balanced diet, this fear is unfounded. Parents should only consider vitamins and supplements for children who are very picky eaters, have asthma or other medical conditions that may affect their absorption of nutrients from fresh food, or if children adhere to a vegetarian diet, and then only in conjunction with medical advice.
Creating bad habits from an early age and turning vitamins into lollies

Some products on the market today, such as Nature’s Own Vita Gummies, pose the danger of moving vitamins and supplements into the ‘lolly’ realm in the minds of children. This deviates from the fact that vitamins and supplements are a serious product and that too many may cause a health concern.

A recent study reveals the correlation between overweight/obese parents and the incidence of childhood obesity.

A study published in the international “Journal of Obesity” based at the University of Queensland found a strong link between a parent’s BMI (Body Mass Index) and his/her child’s BMI.

While the study didn’t conclude whether fathers or mothers had more impact on their children’s weight problems, it did discover that a mother with a BMI in the healthy weight range combined with an overweight or obese father  resulted in a significantly higher rate of children (age between 8 – 9 years old) being overweight or obese.

The study done by Dr Emily Freeman found this may be the result of fathers who are poor role models when it comes to exercise and dietary habits.

While the issue of childhood obesity is a complicated one, other studies have revealed that – by their teenage years – an overweight or obese child will set his or her body’s blueprint for life.

This means that if a person tries to lose weight later in life, they will be subjected to a yoyo style of weight gain and loss as the body seeks to reach its original position of equilibrium.

No matter what studies are undertaken, it’s imperative for the future health of our children that this global epidemic is given more attention.

While doing my regular Friday morning recovery bunch ride, I spoke with a 13-year-old who was riding with his father’s friend.

We enjoyed a great chat as we rode along Beach Road enjoying the bay views. It was perfect riding conditions with a slight breeze to balance off any heat generated from exercising.

Well, the 13-year-old was quite amazing. He personified what our children and teenagers should be doing, that is, exercising and eating a balanced diet.

While most of his friends were still in bed, he was up at 4:40 AM getting ready for his morning 30km ride. Interestingly, he told me that most of his friends don’t exercise at all but spend their time playing PS2 late into the night followed by a late sleep-in the next morning.

I asked him whether he spent much time on the Internet or playing video games. He wasn’t that interested even though he got a game console for Christmas a few years ago.

But the most amazing thing he told me was that his parents don’t cycle. His inspiration to ride came from  older brothers who also raced bicycles. From the tender age of 4 he started competing in racing on small tracks especially designed for kids looking for fun rather than the usual full-blown competitive bike racing experienced by his older siblings.

For 5 years he did a lot of mountain biking and BMX. He recently made the transition to a road bike and now rides 3 -4 times a day. His parents are perfect role models – his father regularly goes to Queen Victoria Market to by fruit and vegetables so there’s always a plentiful supply of fresh produce at home.

Most impressive is that he prepares his own lunch every day – a sandwich and a few pieces of fruit. When I asked what his friends had for lunch it was usually take away food from the Tuck Shop – hot dogs or hamburgers with morning tea/recess usually consisting of, in his words, “sugary roll ups.”

Unfortunately, when I asked him about the exercise habits of his fellow school friends, their greatest activity seems to be playing video games. While some kids try to balance their gaming addiction with swimming, the overall consensus was that most did little or no exercise while consuming the types of food that predispose them to health risks later in life.

The 13-year-old also commented that chocolate and similar types of food were “treats” and so should be consumed infrequently. A great lesson, whether it’s children or adults, is that we need to consume these treats on the odd occasion rather than every day.

This 13-year-old also claimed the benefits of getting involved in a regular exercise regime was that he had plenty of energy in the morning and overall felt a lot better than sitting around doing nothing.

While this level of activity and intensity is at the other end of the exercise spectrum for a young teenager, it does give some great insight into the types of positive behaviors missing in our children’s lives in general.

They don’t necessarily have to go out and race bicycles. Just riding around the local park, kicking a football or playing chasey with their friends keeps them active and provides an alternative focus to eyeballing a computer screen.

Written by Andrew Talati