• Sweets in children’s nutrition – the golden mean
• Products "for children" - why should you avoid them?
• A popular chocolate cream
• Bars with “milk” filling
• Strawberry cookies in teddy bear shape
• Flavored water
• What sweets should I give my child?

What should children eat? This is a question often asked by young parents who find themselves lost in the information jungle. On the one hand, they are inundated with information about the devastating effects of too much sugar in the diet. It may seem that everyone around them only gives children healthy snacks, gluten-free, organic, or at least without added sugar. On the other hand, they constantly hear "good advice" that, in short, says that if we don't allow a child to eat sweets, we are robbing them of their childhood.

Sweets in children’s nutrition – the golden mean

Child nutrition is a very complex topic. One thing is certain, however, is that one shouldn't go to extremes. Sweets served to the child's head in reasonable amounts won't immediately have disastrous health effects.

Because too much sugar in the diet is a major problem these days, and not just for children, it's worth focusing on homemade equivalents of popular sweets, fruits, and other healthy snacks.

When reaching for store-bought products, it's a good idea to check their ingredients. Not always those labeled as specifically designed for children actually are. Quite often, it's the other way around. Manufacturers make us look like a balloon, neatly wrapping a ton of sugar and fat, and often adding information like "ideal for children."

Products "for children" - why should you avoid them?

To shed light on the problem, we analyzed the ingredients of popular children's snacks. See below what's hidden beneath the colorful packaging featuring drawings of smiling children's faces or our children's favorite heroes.

A popular chocolate cream

Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil, hazelnuts 13%, low-fat cocoa powder 7.4%, skimmed milk powder 6.6%, whey powder, soy lecithin, vanillin.

Nuts, cocoa, and milk (powder) make up a total of 27% of the product. This means that more than 70% is sugar and oil. A closer look at the nutritional information reveals that sugar alone accounts for approximately 57% of the composition. This means that a small jar of cream (250 g) contains approximately 30 teaspoons of sugar! You might as well put a sugar bowl in front of your child. Actually, not quite, because the cream also contains hydrogenated vegetable fats, which you won't find in a sugar bowl. They have a very negative impact on our health.

Bars with “milk” filling

Ingredients: Milk chocolate 40% (sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, emulsifier: lecithins (soy), vanilla), sugar, skimmed milk powder, palm oil, concentrated butter, emulsifier: lecithins (soy), vanilla. In this case, the manufacturer used a very clever procedure. They are required to list the ingredients in order of their most abundant presence. This principle is widely known, so the manufacturer placed chocolate first. It seems—not so bad. Chocolate has a relatively positive connotation due to its magnesium content. The problem is that chocolate is not a raw material; it also consists of "something." And this "something" is primarily sugar. We have as much as 53.5% of it in the entire product.

Strawberry cookies in teddy bear shape

Ingredients: Apple and strawberry filling [glucose-fructose syrup, fruit mousse 45% (concentrated apple mousse 27.3%, strawberry mousse 17.7%), humectant (glycerol), acidity regulators (malic acid, citric acid, sodium citrate), concentrated elderberry juice, flavoring, thickener (xanthan gum)], wheat flour 23.6%, eggs, glucose-fructose syrup, sugar, rapeseed oil, stabilizer (glycerol), skimmed milk powder, whole milk powder, raising agents (diphosphates, sodium carbonate), emulsifiers (mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids esterified with lactic acid, esters of fatty acids and polyglycerol), salt, fat-reduced cocoa, flavoring.

The sheer length of the list is shocking. If you don't feel like delving into the ingredients of individual products, remember one simple rule: the shorter the list, the better.

It's worth paying attention to the filling – usually made of glucose-fructose syrup – which contributes significantly to obesity, especially in children. It appears, and the manufacturer probably counts on this, that it's not sugar. And yet it's just as bad or worse than regular sugar.

Flavored water

Ingredients: Water, juices (20%) from: carrots (11%), apples, limes, lemons and raspberries, glucose-fructose syrup, vitamins A, C and E, flavorings.

Water is the first ingredient in the composition. However, this is obvious in a beverage. Cola also primarily contains water. However, the amount of sugar here is shocking. There are two heaped teaspoons in 100 ml, and the bottle contains about 400 ml.

What candy serves child?

We've selected extreme examples for analysis. It's better to avoid such sweets. Of course, it's usually not possible to completely eliminate store-bought snacks from your child's diet. We also recognize that parents don't always have the time or resources to prepare homemade, healthier alternatives for their children.

Fortunately, we can also find much better sweets and snacks on store shelves. When buying, it's worth paying attention to the length of the ingredients on the packaging; the shorter the better. Don't be fooled by popular slogans like "perfect for kids." Be careful with the phrase "no added sugar." Clever manufacturers often disguise sugar behind other substitutes that, however, have a similar effect on our children's health.

There have been written essays about children's eating sweets. The most important principle, however, is the eternal truth that a child learns through observation. Let's choose healthier alternatives ourselves. Let's not demonize sweets, but let's demonstrate that they cannot be the basis of a diet. The child quickly adopts our patterns.