Notes To Parents

A quarter of parents (24 per cent) think that responsibility for nutritional advice lies with the food manufacturers, a further 20% believes the duty to impart information regarding our dietary needs belongs to the retailer.

With all the conflicting data how are parents supposed to know what is good and what is bad for their youngsters and teens?

Here at Buzz we have collated as much information as possible in the hopes that a healthy balance can be struck – something that will please both the kids AND the mums and dads.

This is what we learned:

According to the Government's National Diet and Nutrition Survey*, boys eat, by weight, nearly four times as many biscuits than leafy green vegetables; and girls eat, by weight, more than four times as many sweets and chocolate than leafy green vegetables. It is results like these that are leading to obesity and health problems in our young.

And yet another headline will claim: Official – Chocolate is Good for You!

According to US researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, people who eat chocolate and sweets up to three times a month live almost a year longer than those who eat too much or those who steer clear of the substance altogether.  Yet, further research has shown that our way of thinking of sweets and chocolate uncovers society’s puritanical attitude towards pleasure. Chocolate and sweets have been blamed for all sorts of ills, including hyperactivity in children; yet, clinical trials have not supported this.

And Tim Richardson writing for The Guardian suggests that “Eating candy does all kinds of good.” And argues that “…introducing your child to unusual foods or strong flavours, such as curry or polenta or prawns or artichokes, even Space Dust, is good training for later life, setting them up with a gourmet's inquisitive disposition.”  Taking the simpler view that “…children love sweets and we should celebrate their enthusiasm open-heartedly, while at the same time making sure they come to no harm.”

So what should parents make of all this?

In order to combat confusing facts like these, the government has introduced a system of Guideline Daily Amounts.

What are Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA’s)?

GDAs (Guideline Daily Amounts) are a guide to the total amount of calories, sugar, fat, saturates (saturated fat) and salt a typical person should eat per day. Showing percentages of GDAs on packaging allows parents to understand what their family is eating, and to concentrate on ensuring they have more of the healthier foods, while still enabling them to indulge in those naughty-but-nice treats.

In children this might be shown as follows:

*National Diet and Nutrition Survey: young people aged 4-18 years was commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health and was undertaken by the Office for National Statistics, Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research, and the Dental Schools of the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne and of Birmingham. The survey forms part of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey programme, which aims to gather information about the dietary habits and nutritional status of the British population. Responsibility for this and other surveys in the National Diet and Nutrition Survey programme transferred from MAFF to the Food Standards Agency on the Agency's establishment in April 2000.