1. New National Standards for School Nutrition The government recently finalized updated nutritional guidelines for school meal programs. These changes focus on a phased reduction of added sugars and sodium while increasing the variety of whole grains offered in lunches.
The Purpose: To combat rising rates of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes by ensuring the two meals many children eat daily are nutrient-dense.
Significance: This marks the first time “added sugars” have been specifically targeted in school meal history, shifting the focus from simple calorie counting to long-term metabolic health.
Please follow the same at home too!
2. Surge in School-Based Mental Health Screenings Health departments have reported a 25% increase in the implementation of “universal screening” programs in middle schools. These programs use brief, standardized digital check-ins to identify students at risk for anxiety or depression before a crisis occurs.
The Purpose: To move from a reactive “crisis-only” model to a proactive preventative model for adolescent mental health.
Significance: By normalizing mental health checks alongside vision and hearing tests, schools are identifying “quiet” students who might otherwise fall through the cracks of the healthcare system.
If you suspect changes in your child’s behavior, talk to the school counselor or your child’s PCP
3. Breakthrough in RSV Preventative Access New data from the past 30 days shows a significant drop in infant hospitalizations following the first full season of widespread monoclonal antibody treatments. There is a renewed push to streamline insurance coverage for these treatments ahead of the next viral season.
The Purpose: To reduce the seasonal strain on pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) caused by Respiratory Syncytial Virus.
Significance: RSV has historically been the leading cause of hospitalization for infants. This data proves that preventative immunization can fundamentally change the “triple-demics” that have overwhelmed pediatric hospitals in recent years.
4. Digital Safety and Social Media Regulation Several states have introduced new “Age-Appropriate Design Codes.” These laws require social media platforms to enable the highest privacy settings by default for minors and prohibit features that encourage “infinite scrolling” or late-night notifications.
The Purpose: To mitigate the social and psychological harms associated with excessive screen time and predatory algorithms.
Significance: This shifts the burden of safety from parents to the platforms themselves, treating digital environments as public health spaces that require safety standards similar to physical playgrounds.
This is good, but monitor your child’s social media usage!
The views expressed in this article should not be considered as a substitute for a physician’s advice. Always make sure to seek a doctor or a professional’s advice before proceeding with anything suggested in this article.
Alright, let’s talk about something that’s been creeping up in the background for a while now: childhood diabetes. It’s one of those problems that doesn’t always grab the headlines like other health issues, but it’s definitely a big deal. Diabetes is rising among kids at an alarming rate, and if we don’t pay attention, it’s going to get worse. So let’s break it down—what’s going on, why it matters, and how we can try to fix it.
Diabetes in kids isn’t just some rare condition anymore. In fact, the number of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the kind typically seen in adults, has been rising fast over the last few decades. It used to be that you’d hear about type 1 diabetes in kids—where the pancreas doesn’t make insulin at all—but these days, type 2 is the one that’s really causing concern. And guess what? It’s mostly linked to lifestyle factors, especially diet and lack of exercise.
Kids today are more likely to sit around playing video games or scrolling through TikTok than they are to play outside. On top of that, unhealthy foods like sugary snacks, fast food, and soda are more available and cheaper than ever. Throw in a bit of genetic predisposition, and boom—you’ve got a generation of kids at risk for developing diabetes at younger ages. And the thing is, diabetes isn’t just about blood sugar. It leads to serious complications like heart disease, nerve damage, and kidney problems later on.
The Stats (And They’re Pretty Scary)
The numbers are pretty shocking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 1 in 10 children in the U.S. are either at risk for or already have type 2 diabetes. Even worse, about 1 in 5 kids aged 12 to 19 have prediabetes, which means their blood sugar is higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes yet. If things don’t change, a lot of these kids are going to develop full-blown type 2 diabetes in the future.
To give you some perspective, in 1994, the number of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes was practically zero. But by 2010, the numbers had jumped significantly, with more than 200,000 children and teens diagnosed with diabetes. And the rates are still rising, especially in certain groups.
Speaking of groups, certain demographics are more affected than others. Kids from low-income families, minority groups (like African American, Latino, and Native American), and kids living in rural areas are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. This is often because they have less access to healthy food, fewer opportunities for physical activity, and more exposure to things like fast food and sugary drinks. The CDC reports that type 2 diabetes is 2-4 times more common in these communities.
Recent Trends
In recent years, it’s become clear that type 2 diabetes is becoming an issue earlier and earlier. Kids are getting diagnosed in their teens or even younger, which is something we didn’t see much of 30 years ago. Now, doctors are seeing kids as young as 8 or 9 with type 2 diabetes. That’s scary.
One major trend is that as more kids gain weight and become overweight or obese, the rates of diabetes skyrocket. Obesity is one of the main risk factors for type 2 diabetes, and it’s no coincidence that childhood obesity has also been on the rise. According to the CDC, about 20% of children ages 2 to 19 are obese, and this number has tripled in the past few decades. With obesity and diabetes linked so closely together, it’s not hard to see how the rates are going up.
The COVID-19 pandemic also made things worse. With lockdowns, school closures, and increased screen time, many kids gained weight and got less exercise. At the same time, stress levels were high, and comfort foods (like chips, ice cream, and pizza) became go-to options. So, there was a lot of unhealthy stuff happening all at once, which likely contributed to the increase in diabetes diagnoses during that time.
How Does It Affect Kids?
You might think, “Okay, but they’re just kids. It won’t affect them right away.” And that’s the problem. Type 2 diabetes doesn’t show symptoms right away, so it often goes undiagnosed for years. But even though a kid might not feel sick, the long-term damage can already be starting. High blood sugar can damage the blood vessels, nerves, and organs over time, leading to heart disease, kidney problems, and even blindness later in life.
And the emotional impact can be just as bad. Imagine being a 10-year-old kid and having to take insulin shots or worry about your blood sugar levels constantly. It’s not something kids should have to think about. Diabetes can also lead to feelings of isolation, shame, or frustration. It’s a lot to deal with on top of everything else kids are already going through.
Tools and Techniques to Prevent It
So, what can we do about it? Well, a lot, actually. The first step is education—both for parents and kids. Kids need to understand the importance of a healthy diet and regular physical activity. Parents need to know how to make better food choices and how to set up routines that help kids stay active.
For starters, getting kids moving is key. Even something as simple as a daily walk, bike ride, or playing sports can make a huge difference. The CDC recommends that kids get at least 1 hour of physical activity every day, which might sound like a lot, but it doesn’t have to be all at once. A little bit of movement throughout the day adds up.
Next, food is a huge factor. It’s not just about cutting out candy or soda (although that helps). It’s about making small changes that add up over time. Switching from sugary cereals to whole grains, or cutting back on fast food and opting for healthier home-cooked meals, can help a lot. And teaching kids how to read food labels is a game-changer.
There are also tech tools that can help parents keep track of their kids’ health. Apps like MyFitnessPal or Lose It! allow families to track meals and exercise, while apps like Carb Manager help diabetic children and their families keep an eye on their carb intake. For those who are already dealing with diabetes, tools like Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) can help track blood sugar levels more easily.
If a child has already been diagnosed, there are programs designed to help manage the disease. Diabetes education programs are available, where kids and their families learn how to manage diabetes with diet, exercise, and medication. It’s all about catching it early and teaching kids the skills they need to live a normal life with the condition.
Concerns About Rising Childhood Diabetes Rates
The big concern is that without real action, these rising rates of diabetes will continue to spiral. Kids are getting diagnosed younger and younger, and that means they’re more likely to face serious complications later in life. Type 2 diabetes isn’t just a “grown-up” disease anymore—it’s becoming a childhood problem. And the more kids who get diagnosed, the more pressure there will be on our healthcare system to provide care and treatment.
Another concern is that childhood diabetes disproportionately affects certain groups—especially low-income families and racial/ethnic minorities. These communities often don’t have the same access to healthcare, healthy food, or safe places to be active. If we don’t address these inequalities, the rates of childhood diabetes are only going to increase.
Lastly, the mental health aspect is huge. Kids already have to deal with school, social pressures, and growing up in the digital age. Add diabetes to the mix, and it can lead to anxiety, depression, and feelings of isolation. We need to make sure we’re supporting kids emotionally as much as physically, especially since type 2 diabetes often comes with long-term lifestyle changes.
Conclusion
The rise in childhood diabetes is one of those issues we can’t ignore anymore. It’s tied to diet, exercise, and lifestyle, and it’s clear that something needs to change. But the good news is that we can make a difference. If we educate kids, promote healthy habits, and address the inequalities that contribute to the rise in diabetes, we can reverse the trend. We need to act now so that kids don’t grow up dealing with preventable health issues that could follow them for life. Let’s work together to make sure the next generation doesn’t have to face the same struggles.
The views expressed in this article should not be considered as a substitute for a physician’s advice. Always make sure to seek a doctor or a professional’s advice before proceeding with the home treatment plan.
Funded by NIH, University of Utah researchers found that
Corn syrup was more toxic to female mice than table sugar, shortening their lives and cutting their rate of reproduction.
The mice on the fructose-glucose diet produced 26.4 percent fewer offspring than their counterparts on the diet containing added table sugar.
Between 13 and 25 percent of Americans are estimated to eat diets containing 25 percent or more of calories from added sugars, according to the paper.
REMEMBER
Sugar from any source supplies the glucose your body use for energy, but sugar added to sweets and beverages has a different impact on your health than the same sugar supplied by a piece of fruit.
Simple sugars gain quick access and cause a spike in blood sugar. All bad sugar is simple sugar, but not all simple sugar is bad. It depends on the source. Fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and whole grains contain simple sugars. When simple sugars are naturally found in whole food, they come with vitamins, minerals, protein, phytochemicals and fiber. The presence of fiber makes a significant difference because it slows down the absorption of sugar, which moderates its impact on blood sugar.
A sugar substitute is a food additive that duplicates the effect of sugar in taste, usually with less food energy. Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are synthetic.
Alternative sweeteners are highly consumed in America. According to research studies explained by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in 2003–2004, Americans two years of age and older consumed 585g per day of beverages and 375g per day of foods with caloric sweeteners. Some commonly consumed foods with alternative sweeteners are diet sodas, cereals, and sugar-free desserts such as ice cream.
In the United States, seven intensely sweet sugar substitutes have been approved for use. They are stevia, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame potassium (Ace-K), saccharin, and advantame. The food and beverage industry is increasingly replacing sugar or corn syrup with artificial sweeteners in a range of products traditionally containing sugar.
Aspartame: Aspartame is a methylester. More than 6,000 products contain aspartame. It is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose, or table sugar. The FDA reviewed its safety in 2007 and concluded that aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption as a nonnutritive sweetener. However, people with the genetic condition phenylketonuria
PKU cannot ingest it. And pregnant women shouldn’t since they have been linked to premature births. In a study done in 1979, the effect of aspartame ingestion on blood and milk amino acid levels in lactating women was tested and found a small effect on the milk aspartate levels. The consumer advocacy group the Center for Science in the Public Interest continues to promote the position that aspartame is not safe.
Sucralose/Splenda:Splenda is twice as sweet as saccharin and three times as sweet as aspartame. The actual energy content of a single-serving (1-g packet) of Splenda is 3.36 kilocalories, 31% of those of a granulated sugar (10.8 kcal). In the United States, it is legally labelled “zero calories”. Some studies have determined that sucralose is not a biologically inert compound, having possible toxic effects, including creation of dioxin-like compounds when sucralose is heated.
Saccharine: Saccharin was produced first in 1878. It is 300 times as sweet as sucrose or table sugar, but has a bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. The basic substance is benzoic sulfilimine. Studies have shown saccharine causes bladder cancer is rats, which eventually prompted safety warnings on products containing saccharine. However, in 2001, the FDA reversed its position, declaring it safe for consumption.
Neotame: The chemical formula is similar to aspartame, but it is between 7,000 and 13,000 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). It’s the only artificial sweetener deemed “safe” by the consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Truvia: Truvía’s ingredients are erythritol. The calorie-free, low-carb sweetener comes from the shrub-like stevia plant. This sugar substitute is about 100 times sweeter than sugar. The FDA first rejected it in the 1990s for use as a food ingredient. High dosages fed to rats affected reproduction. But in 2008 the FDA granted stevia “GRAS” status, meaning it is “generally recognized as safe.”
Comparison of sweetness based on energy content is not meaningful because many artificial sweeteners have little or no food energy.
ISSUES WITH CHEMICAL SWEETNERS
Animal studies have indicated that a sweet taste induces an insulin response in rats.
A 2014 study by a collaboration from nine Israeli research institutes presented experimental evidence that artificial sweeteners may exacerbate, rather than prevent, metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes.
QUESTION: Doctor: You often say avoid “Added Sugar”. It is bad for a growing child. What is your view about Products made with sugar substitutes? How about Diet Soda? Which sugar substitute is good for my child?
MY VIEWS:
Children generally love sugary foods, and chances are the processed or packaged food your child eats has some amount of added sugar. The American Heart Association (AHA) recently released new guidelines limiting the amount of added sugar considered acceptable for a healthy diet. Per AHA,
Preschoolers with a daily caloric intake of 1,200 to 1,400 calories shouldn’t consume any more than 170 calories, or about 4 teaspoons, of added sugar a day.
Children ages 4-8 with a daily caloric intake of 1,600 calories should consume no more than 130 calories, or about 3 teaspoons a day.
As your child grows into his teen years, his caloric range increases to 1,800 to 2,000 a day, and the maximum amount of added sugar included in his daily diet should be 5 to 8 teaspoons.
However the reality per AHA study is
children as young as 1-3 years typically consume around 12 teaspoons of sugar a day!!
By the time a child is 4-8 years old, his sugar consumption skyrockets to an average of 21 teaspoons a day!
Obesity ratestripled in 30 years, and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among children more than doubled in the last 2 decades of the twentieth century. Many children drink more sugar-sweetened beverages than milk. Sugar-sweetened beverages represent the largest category of daily caloric intake (7%–12%) for many demographic groups. Evidence suggests that increasing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages raises weight and obesity rates.
This is why I recommend against “Added Sugar” in your child’s diet.
Now let’s look at Sugar Substitutes
Sugar substitutes provide sweetness to food without the calories of sugar. The FDA has approved five artificial sweeteners: saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, neotame, and sucralose. It has also approved one natural low-calorie sweetener, stevia. How the human body and brain respond to these sweeteners is very complex. Of the above only Stevia is a natural sweetener. But just because something is natural does not always mean that it is safer. Sugar substitutes are found in most of the “light,” “reduced calorie” or “sugar-free” foods and drinks available today.
As the name says, Sugar substitutes are just as the name says – chemicals masquerading as sugar!
What does research say?:
Research suggests that Sugar substitutes may prevent us from associating sweetness with caloric intake. As a result, we may crave more sweets, tend to choose sweet food over nutritious food, and gain weight.
Animal studies suggest that artificial sweeteners may be addictive. In studies of rats who were exposed to cocaine, then given a choice between intravenous cocaine or oral saccharine, most chose saccharin.
Aspartame is also often anecdotally linked to brain disorders based on small animal studies, but human studies have not shown an association.
A lot of studies show that diet soda is linked with being overweight but there isn’t a clear answer as to why.
Due to limited studies in children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has no official recommendations regarding the use of noncaloric sweeteners.
So the best advice I can give is probably to
avoid artificial chemicals in general (which is high in processed food);
limit both regular and diet soda consumption for optimal health, especially for children.
Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new map detailing adult obesity rates across the country. In 1995, when the CDC first collected this data in all states, not a single one had an obesity rate higher than 19%. In 2013, the CDC announced, every single state in the country had an obesity rate of at least 20%.
Obesity prevalence in 2013 varies across states and regions
· No state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%.
· 7 states and the District of Columbia had a prevalence of obesity between 20% and <25%.
· 23 states had a prevalence of obesity between 25% and <30%.
· 18 states had a prevalence of obesity between 30% and <35%.
· 2 states (Mississippi and West Virginia) had a prevalence of obesity of 35% or greater.
· The South had the highest prevalence of obesity (30.2%), followed by the Midwest (30.1%), the Northeast (26.5%), and the West (24.9%).
Rates of obesity were highest in Mississippi (35.1%) and West Virginia (35.1%) and lowest in Hawaii (21.8%) and Colorado (21.3%).
In children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years, obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile of the sex-specific CDC BMI-for-age growth charts.
· Approximately 17% (or 12.7 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years had obesity.
· The prevalence of obesity among children aged 2 to 5 years decreased significantly from 13.9% in 2003-2004 to 8.4% in 2011-2012.
· There are significant racial and age disparities in obesity prevalence among children and adolescents. In 2011-2012, obesity prevalence was higher among Hispanics (22.4%) and non-Hispanic black youth (20.2%) than non-Hispanic white youth (14.1%). The prevalence of obesity was lower in non-Hispanic Asian youth (8.6%) than in youth who were non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black or Hispanic.
· In 2011-2012, 8.4% of 2- to 5-year-olds had obesity compared with 17.7% of 6- to 11-year-olds and 20.5% of 12- to 19-year-olds.
· Overall, obesity prevalence among children whose adult head of household completed college was approximately half that of those whose adult head of household did not complete high school (9% vs 19% among girls; 11% vs 21% among boys) in 1999–2010.
· Among non-Hispanic white children, the lowest prevalence of obesity was observed among those whose adult head of household completed college; however, this was not the case for non-Hispanic black children.
· Over time, the prevalence of obesity among girls whose adult head of household had not finished high school increased from 17% (1999–2002) to 23% (2007–2010), but decreased for girls whose adult head of household completed college from 11% (1999–2002) to 7% (2007–2010). There was not a similar finding among boys.
· Obesity prevalence was the highest among children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 100% or less (household income that is at or below the poverty threshold), followed by those in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 101%–130%, and then found to be lower in children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 131% or larger (greater household income).
· Obesity prevalence on the basis of family income among children from low-income households was:
o 14.2% among children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of less than or equal to 50%.
o 14.5% among children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 51–100%.
o 13.4% among children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 101–130%.
o 12.4% among children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 131–150%.
o 11.8% among children in families with an income-to-poverty ratio of 151-185%.
Don’t brush aside Obesity. Talk to your child’s doctor about it.
The World Health Organization recently proposed new guidelines that recommend consuming less than 5% of our total daily calories from added sugars. For an adult at a normal body mass index, or BMI, 5% would be around 25 grams of sugar — or six teaspoons.
Now, if you are trying to lower the sugar you take, cut processed food and beverages.
Check out CNN’s side-by-side comparison of foods and its sugar equivalent here
People have been sounding warnings about the dangers of too much sugar for a long time. As early as 1957, John Yudkin, a professor of nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College in London, began arguing that when it came to heart disease and other chronic ailments, sugar — not fat — was the culprit.
SINS OF SUGAR
1. Cavities: Tooth decay occurs when the bacteria that line the teeth feed on simple sugars, creating acid that destroys enamel. Because acid is a key culprit, sour candies are especially bad.
2. Weight gain & Obesity: Sugary foods are full of calories but will do little to satiate your hunger. Just one can of soda each day could lead to 15 pounds of weight gain in a single year, and each can of soda increases the odds of becoming obese, a JAMA study noted.
3. Insulin resistance. Sugar causes insulin to rise. When insulin levels are consistently high, your body’s sensitivity to the hormone is reduced, and glucose builds up in the blood.
4. Diabetes: study that followed 51,603 women between 1991 and 1999 found an increased risk of diabetes among those who consumed more sugar-sweetened beverages (soda, sweetened ice tea, energy drinks).
5. Liver failure: High doses of sugar can make the liver go into overdrive. That’s one reason excess fructose is a “key player” in the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, where fat accumulates in the liver. People with this diagnosis have been found to have almost double the soda intake of the average person.
6. Pancreatic cancer: A handful of studies have found that high-sugar diets are associated with a slightly elevated risk of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancers.
7. Kidney disease: Rats fed extremely high-sugar diets — consuming about 12 times the percentage of sugar recommended in the WHO’s new guidelines — developed enlarged kidneys and a host of problems with regular kidney function.
8. High blood pressure & Heart Disease: eating lots of added sugar has indeed been linked to high blood pressure. a CDC study of 11,733 adults concluded that there is “a significant relationship between added sugar consumption and increased risk for CVD [cardiovascular disease] mortality.”
9. Nutritional deficiencies: “High-sugar foods displace whole foods (eg, soft drinks displace milk and juice consumption in children) and contribute to nutritional deficiencies,” noted a statement from the American Heart Association.
Is your child a guinea pig for the fancy new chemicals masquerading as the next new in food?
If it was up to Marketers and food chemist, you would be. But luckily they have you as a parent, who is concerned about their health and reads articles like these.
What are artificial sweeteners? They are a proprietary patented chemical that has something to do with phenylalanine.
The way artificial sweeteners were discovered could have been a scene out of the old classic comedy. In 1879, Ira Ramsen a researcher from John Hopkins spilled some chemical his hand that turned out to be sweet when he tasted it. He was trying to create some antiulcer drug in his lab when this accident occurred. His spill set the stage for the development of saccharin – an artificial sweetener known today by many names. Now more than 125 years later, saccharin is joined by a growing list of artificial sweeteners with varying chemical structures. And there are a whole host of new ones on the horizon. These products substitute sugar and corn syrup.
Are they safe? Can they help people to shed their extra weight? What role should they play in person’s and children’s diet-if any?
Artificial sweeteners also called sugar substitutes are compounds that offer the sweetness of sugar without the same calories. They are anywhere from 30 to 8000 times sweeter than sugar and as a result, they have much fewer calories than foods made with table sugar (sucrose). Each gram of refined table sugar contains 4 calories. Many sugar substitutes have zero calories per gram.
Is it safe for kids?
For children, sugar is a health hazard. But artificial sweetener poses its own problem. The jury is still not out on exactly how toxic artificial sweetener is to growing little bodies, but in general, the less the better, is a safe rule of the thumb for any lab-made food. The U.S. food and drug administration has set limits on the amount of artificial sweeteners infants and children should consume.
Sugar alcohols, mannitol and sorbitol cause diarrhea in adults as well as children when consumed in amounts over 20 – 50 grams per day. Artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, used in some formulas could cause irritability and muscle dysfunction in infants, although this is unproven according to Medicine.Net.
More kids are drinking diet and artificially sweetened beverages. Aspartame has had the most complaints of any food additives available to the public. It has been linked with MS, lupus, fibromyalgia and other central nervous disorders. Possible effects of aspartame include headache, migraines, panic-attacks, dizziness, irritability, nausea, intestinal discomfort, skin rash and nervousness. Some researchers have linked it with depression and manic episodes. Parents particularly should be concerned about the neurotoxicity of aspartame. Dr. Olney pointed out in 1980 that aspartame killed neurons in lab rats and that children’s nervous system aren’t protected by the blood-brain barrier. He told the FDA, “We can be reasonably certain there is no margin of safety for the use of aspartame in the child’s diet.” Yet we have it.
A review of studies conducted by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has published in the 2008 issue of “obesity” that an increased intake of artificial sweeteners correlates to an increase, rather than a decrease, in obesity. It’s advised that children with PKU should never consume artificial sweeteners.
So, what can you do?
Artificial sweeteners change the way people perceive food tastes, according to the Harvard Health Letter. Foods sweetened with artificial sweeteners also fill children up without providing any nutritional benefit, registered dietician Karen Ansel warns on the Academy of Dietics and Nutrition website. The AAP states that artificial sweeteners shouldn’t have any significant place in a child’s diet. An occasional taste of a treat made with artificial sweetener won’t harm your child.
Want sweet substitutes?
Cinnamon is a sweet tasting spice that has recently been shown to have a beneficial effect on stabilizing blood insulin levels. Sprinkle cinnamon on oatmeal or in a smoothie.
Try fruit toppings. Instead of sweetened yogurt (Avoid any yoghurt labeled ‘light’ these almost always contain artificial sweeteners.) Try plain yoghurt mixed with a tsp. of fresh thawed frozen blueberries.
Use Agave Nectar or Honey if a bit of sweetness is desired.
But avoid raw sugar and any sweetener (including those marketed as Natural sweetener) like the PLAGUE.
According to the fashion, our wardrobe changes. In fashion, it is vital to know about the next new thing. Unfortunately the food business has started to follow the same with Artificial Sweetener/Sugar. Chemists create a new “food” in a lab, advertisers promote it and once it’s in every shelf of super market we all buy and use it.
What are artificial sweeteners?
Artificial sweeteners also called sugar substitutes are compounds that offer the sweetness of sugar without the same calories. They are anywhere from 30 to 8000 times sweeter than sugar and as a result, they have much fewer calories than foods made with table sugar (sucrose). Each gram of refined table sugar contains 4 calories. However sugar substitutes have zero calories per gram. It is a proprietary patented chemical (typically phenylalanine) that gives sweetness.
The way artificial sweeteners were discovered could have been a scene out of the old classic comedy. In 1879, Ira Ramsen a researcher from John Hopkins spilled a chemical on his hand; it turned out to be sweet when he tasted it. He was trying to create some antiulcer drug in his lab when this accident occurred. His spill set the stage for the development of saccharin-an artificial sweetener known today by many names
Now more than 125 years later, saccharin is joined by a growing list of artificial sweeteners with varying chemical structures. There’s a whole host of new ones on the horizon. These products substitute sugar and may even replace the dreaded high fructose corn syrup.
Are they safe?
More kids are drinking artificially sweetened beverages like DIET Coke/Pepsi/Sprite.
Can they help people to shed their extra weight? What role should they play in person’s or children’s diet-if any?
For children, sugar is considered poison. Read this if you want to know why.
Artificial sweepers pose its own potential problems in infants and children.
Sugar alcohols mannitol and sorbitol can cause diarrhea in adults as well as children
Artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, used in some formulas could cause irritability and muscle dysfunction in infants, although this is unproven according to Medicine.Net.
Aspartame has the most complaints of any additives available to the public. It has been linked with Multiple Sclerosis, lupus, fibromyalgia and other central nervous disorders. Possible other side effects of aspartame include headache, migraines, panic-attacks, dizziness, irritability, nausea, intestinal discomfort, skin rash and nervousness. Some researchers have also linked it with depression and manic episodes.
Parents particularly should be concerned about the neurotoxicity of aspartame. Dr. Olney pointed out in 1980 that aspartame killed neurons in lab rats and that children’s nervous system aren’t protected by the blood-brain barrier. He told the FDA, “We can be reasonably certain there is no margin of safety for the use of aspartame in the child’s diet.”
Obesity and sweeteners in children.
A review of studies conducted by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, published in the 2008, found that an increased intake of artificial sweeteners correlated with an increase, rather than a decrease, in obesity.
Artificial sweeteners changes the way people perceive food tastes, according to the Harvard Health Letter. Foods sweetened with artificial sweeteners also fill children up without providing any nutritional benefit.
The AAP clearly states that artificial sweeteners shouldn’t have significant place in a child’s diet.
So what do you do?
An occasional taste of a treat made with artificial sweetener won’t harm your child.
But in general, we avoid “artificial” food like a plague.
We recommend that you offer sweet substitutes.
Cinnamon is a sweet tasting spice that has recently been shown to have a beneficial effect on stabilizing blood insulin levels. Sprinkle cinnamon on oatmeal or in a smoothie.
Molasses, Honey and Agave nectar are other less dangerous alternatives.
STUDY: Preschool children who regularly have sugary drinks tend to pack on more pounds than other youngsters.
DETAILS: Journal Pediatrics
Researchers found that among the 2- to 5-year-olds they followed, those who routinely had sugar-sweetened drinks at age 5 were 43% more likely to be obese than their peers who rarely had those drinks.
Sugar-sweetened beverages are the largest source of added sugars in the diet of U.S. youth.
Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.
Obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008.
Among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, obesity increased from 5.0% to 18.1%
What Can You Do
Plenty of factors influence childhood obesity, including genes, overall diet and physical activity.
Although the study cannot prove it’s the beverages causing the added weight, experts said parents should opt for water and milk to quench preschoolers’ thirst.
U.S. kids would slash 235 daily calories from their diets if they swapped sugary drinks or 100 percent fruit juice for water.
Kids should
· Reduce their consumption of regular soda or pop, sports drinks, and other sugar-sweetened beverages.
· Increase their consumption of water and low-fat or fat-free milk.
