Changing nutrition trends in children

Every parent tries to ensure that their child gets the best nutrition and diet possible. In a metro city most middle class parents can afford very healthy food for their children. So does this mean that all the children are getting the right diet? Unfortunately this is not happening.

The incidence of childhood obesity is increasing at an alarming rate in urban India. Approximately 20 per cent of children are overweight or obese with the incidence being even more in urban areas and children from private schools. And obesity is a disease even in children and causes many co morbidities and future health problems.

Children have easy access to junk food and processed foods. Fresh fruits are being replaced by processed fruit juices. These processed juices have extremely high sugar content. The traditional Indian diet of vegetables, daal, rice, chapati, salads, fruits, curd, milk is a very wholesome and nutritious diet.

Parents add additives to milk thinking they will increase the nutritive value of milk, but what it actually does is to add more calories. A child's diet should roughly have a good quality protein (daal/ egg/ chicken/ fish/ paneer), 400 -500 ml of dairy (milk/ curd), at least one fruit, whole grains, vegetables and adequate water.

The focus has shifted from the simple traditional food to fancy cuisines, preference for organic foods and in this process some parents ignore the more important aspects of a child's diet Also lack of outdoor play and increased screen time contributes to obesity and even vitamin d deficiency with most children these days having minimal sun exposure. Another problem being increasingly seen in children due to these lifestyle changes is constipation.

Roughly 30 per cent of children visiting a pediatrician have constipation and 15 per cent of school going children have constipation. Parents are the role models for children. It is very important for the entire family to eat healthy and exercise regularly.

Schools, parents and we as a society need to bring a change in the diet and lifestyle habits of our children on priorty. Otherwise as an international study predicts India will have 17 million obese children by 2025 and will stand second in childhood obesity among 184 countries in the world. The author is an MD Pediatrics and a Consultant Pediatrician at KIMS Cuddles, Kondapur.

By Dr Preeti Sharma