New federal guidelines on how much processed sugar infants and toddlers can take were released early last year to mitigate childhood obesity and cardiovascular diseases. The recommendation was zero added sugar, which means that children under two years old should consume no processed sugar.
As a nutritional epidemiologist from the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences, Lisa Bodnar wrote in The Conversation that satisfying kids' desire for sugar would only lead to adverse health consequences in the future.
No Sugar For Kids Under Two Years Old: Nutritional Epidemiologist Explains What Happens Why
Government Guidelines on Sugar Consumption For Children Under 2 Years Old
The US Department of Agriculture collaborated with the Department of Health to publish recommendations on sugar intake for infants and toddlers below two years old.
According to a news article in the University of Washington School of Medicine online publication, the guidelines were released after studies linked sugar consumption to childhood obesity and future diseases in the heart. More so, the guidelines encourage parents to feed their kids only breast milk in the first six months of their infant's life.
UW Medical Cente dietitian Eliza Lagerquist said that the guidelines seem to be a little shocking at first, but then the guidelines only specify added sugar in food. Since kids under that age group eat so little food, parents should avoid giving them junk food or sweets.
Bodnar said that added sugars could be natural sugars, like honey, or they could also be artificial sugars, like high-fructose syrup. Foods that seem healthy, such as yogurt, granola, and fruit juices, have high levels of hidden sugars. Also, sweeteners added to bread, pasta, salad dressings, crackers, and sauces are not recommended. The sugar serving advisable for kids below two years old is only between 3 to 24 grams or 2 tablespoons per day.
Overall, the federal guidelines suggest that sugars that do not naturally occur in dairy products, fruits, vegetables, bread, and other grains should be limited or completely eliminated in the diets of young children.
Why Added Sugars Should Be Eliminated in Their Diet?
Bodnar explains in her article in The Conversation that children below 24 months need proper calories and nutrients to promote growth. However, food and beverages high in added sugar have a lot of calories but no nutrients.
She said that to ensure healthy nutrition for infants and toddlers, the food they eat should be high in nutrients. Giving them high-caloric and sugar-laden foods and beverages will leave less room for nutritious foods that they need.
Children who are fed high sugar diets are more likely to develop a number of adverse health consequences compared to kids who were fed healthy food. They could develop childhood obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and tooth decay later on.
Bodnar pointed out that the first 24 months of kids' life shape their long-term food preferences. A study in Frontiers in Psychology shows the evolutionary connection of sugar addiction. It explains why people are hard-wired to crave sugar because ancient people ate lots of sugar to build up fat and keep them from starving.
But that does not mean kids can not learn to love eating bitter foods rich in nutrients. Offering them vegetables repeatedly during childhood will eventually train them to eat nutritious foods and set healthy diet patterns early in life to maintain a healthy weight and avoid diseases.
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