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- N. Raghuraman’s Column Explain The Risks Of Ultra processed Food To Children
2 days ago
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N. Raghuraman, Management Guru
Late Thursday evening, while having hot tea in a restaurant on the Indore-Bhopal highway, I saw that as soon as a bus stopped there, two children jumped out, ran towards the restaurant and ordered food. It took exactly four minutes for their father, who was behind several passengers, to get off the bus, but before he did, food was already on the children’s table and they had started enjoying pizza-finger chips.
The father simply said, ‘How many times will you have to tell people that you cannot eat pizza and finger chips?’ Neither of them even gave a heads up or anything like an apology. He simply said, “There was nothing else that we could eat.” Then I looked around and saw that many children in the restaurant were eating finger chips and pre-packaged ultra processed food, which was being heated only for children.
The child sitting right behind me whispered to his mother, ‘He will soon become a little elephant’ and started laughing. His mother said ‘Shhh’ and tried to divert his attention to another topic while silencing him. Most passengers on the bus ate pre-packaged or prepared food, knowing that the bus would arrive at that time.
Many of those pre-packaged foods were ultra-processed foods that could be prepared in a microwave in just a few minutes, while many of the Indian dishes written on board were only being tasted by passengers who had enough time to wait. And were traveling in their personal vehicles.
The scene reminded me of a December 2024 workshop hosted by the National Institutes of Health and the US Food and Drug Administration, where several scientists presented their interim data on food. This is an ongoing study in which scientists are investigating how these foods affect our bodies.
According to them, some ultra-processed foods, such as frozen pizza and finger chips, contain more calories per gram than less processed or freshly cooked foods. Ultra-processed foods contain a combination of salt, fat, sugar, and carbohydrates not commonly found in other foods. Whereas less processed and freshly cooked foods do not lead to overeating and weight gain, at least not as much as these ultra-processed foods do.
In fact, they create food cravings, just like what happened to the children in that restaurant. Researchers have called these types of foods “highly palatable” because they have a strong effect on our brain’s reward system. Due to this, it becomes difficult to stop oneself from eating.
A presentation given at this meeting noted that many foods that appear healthy are extremely tasty, including many full-fat yogurts (high fat and high sugar), salted nuts (high sodium and high fat), while regular Nuts without salt do not contain them.
The question is, what can you do as a young parent? Avoid foods that have double or more calories per gram. You can mix high calorie foods with normal foods like cheese and salad and always watch the sodium content of any food item.
The biggest thing you can do is have a competition around healthy eating habits at home. Sit down with them, tell them about the harmful things associated with it, and ask them how they can contribute to their health. When responsibility falls on their heads, they contribute in a very responsible manner. I have seen this myself in my cousins’ children.
The bottom line is that If you educate children and involve them in deciding what they think the family should eat and what they should avoid, they will eventually become super smart food advisors.