Flavoured milks, fruit juices

Chocolate and strawberry milk, juices, iced tea... these seem great options to keep the water-averse child hydrated, but are they really? We ask Sushma Ghag, Dietitian at Aster Hospital Mankhool

The health impact

Freshly-squeezed homemade juices are good for a child’s health since they provide them with essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients, but the same cannot be said of packaged fruit juices, flavoured milk or other beverages. This is because packaged juices and similar beverages are just a mix of sugar and artificial flavour. They retain none of the nutrition of the original fruits, and in fact can be quite harmful for children in the long run.

Hence it is absolutely vital that parents spend a little more reading the labels to gain a better understanding of the contents of the drinks they buy out of the hypermarket freezer section.

Mums and dads play a very crucial role in inducing eating behaviours in children. The habits of healthy eating have to be established at a very young age.

Even before a child starts taking solid food, parents can establish taste preferences. The taste for sweet and salty things is developed at the infant stage. Early on, if the children are fed with sugary drinks and unhealthy foods, they’ll be more prone to weight issues and obesity later in life.

The American Heart Association stipulates healthy children between the ages of two and 18 should consume less than 25g (6 tsp) sugar. Excessive sugar consumption can increase a child’s risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Having a lot of packaged drinks, even sugarfree ones, can lead to a diabetes diagnosis in childhood or in the coming years.

What to swap it for?

Giving up sugar is not usual of children. So what you can do is give them homemade chocolate milks, smoothies, fruit milkshakes, juices with pulp, fruits- and herb-infused water, etc. These form good substitutes for sugar-loaded drinks that lack nutrition value.

Juice up fresh and seasonal fruits and vegetables that are high in fibre and nutrition – think apples, bananas, berries, papaya, spinach, beans, brussel sprouts etc. Once in a while unhealthy drinks can be used as a ‘reward’ when they score high in school or win a trophy in sport or any other extra curricular activity but do remember that there is no substitute for healthy meals and lots of water.