Even if you don’t give candy and other sweets to your children, they might still be consuming high amounts of refined sugars in their diet. Refined sugars are added to foods and beverages during processing to sweeten the food, adding no nutritional value, but loading the food with significant amounts of calories that can have negative effects on children's health. Take stock of your pantry, serve healthier foods and cut down on refined sugar to keep kids healthy now and in the future.
Refined Sugars
When the digestive system breaks down fruits, honey, corn, milk, and starches such as potatoes and rice, simple carbohydrate sugars such as fructose, glucose, lactose and sucrose are released and used for fuel. However, if the ingredients do not include fruit or milk, and you see simple sugars in the label, more likely these are refined sugars added in processing. Refined sugar can also appear in product labels under other names, including brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, malt sugar and molasses.
Food Sources
The American Heart Association lists certain foods that contain high amounts of refined sugars. At the top of the list are carbonated soda, candy, cakes, cookies, pies, fruit juice drinks, dairy desserts, ice cream, cereals and waffles. You can also find refined sugars in nonsugary foods such as breads, soups, lunch meats, hot dogs, salad dressing, peanut butter, ketchup, tomato juice, pickles, frozen pizza, and canned fruits and vegetables. Consuming one or more of these high-sugar foods can supply your children with more calories than their bodies need.
Health Risks
Children need carbohydrates for fuel, and naturally occurring sugars found in fruit and milk can provide them with this nutrient. However, sugary foods are high in calories, easy to digest, low in fiber and do not make children feel full fast. Thus, they might end up eating more sugary foods more often. This habit can lead to diabetes, obesity and hyperactivity. Children who eat more sugary foods also tend to have more cavities and increased risk for related dental problems. Refined sugars can also decrease the ability of the immune system to fight off bacteria, notes the website Family Education.
Reducing Refined Sugar
In general, children ages 1 to 18 should get 4.6 ounces, or 520 calories, from carbohydrates per day, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A 12-ounce can of soda, for example, contains 132 calories from refined sugar. This is equivalent to one-fourth the total calorie requirement for carbohydrates per day. Cutting down on soda is one of the best ways to reduce refined sugar from your children’s diet. Also, give them more foods with complex carbs, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy.
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