Beating off the sweets in the fight against excessive sugar

As a new study provides more evidence that children should not be drinking sugar-laden beverages, the battle against excessive sugar continues.

The Watson family at home in Dubai. Jaime Puebla / The National

The Watson family faces an issue that is not uncommon in households with young children. Getting Tia, 6, to eat healthily, when friends around her are guzzling colas and junk food, is a battle. But Nick Watson has a strategy – no fizzy, sugary drinks or highly processed food are allowed at home.

“She just knows that is not what we do and she accepts that,” says her father, who is the owner of Tribe Watson, a company in Dubai that provides fitness services and develops health programmes for schoolchildren.

Watson tries to lay down simple rules, without being heavy-handed in his approach. “We try to inform her why we would prefer her not to eat or drink these choices, what they really are and what the health consequences are and therefore allow her to make those choices, too,” says the British national.

The Watsons are clearly on to something. A new US study of 9,600 children under 5, conducted by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and published in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that those who had at least one sugary drink each day were 43 per cent more likely to be obese than those who had such drinks less frequently or not at all. The study looked at children born in 2001, when they were 2, 4 and 5 years old. Nine to 13 per cent of the children who had at least one soda, sports drink or sugar-sweetened juice every day were more likely to have an overweight mother and watched two hours or more of TV daily as well.

Closer to home the situation is equally dire. A survey of 1,440 children in the UAE found 14.2 per cent of those between 6 and 19 years old were overweight and 19.8 per cent were obese. Even more concerning was that as the children grew older, the likelihood of obesity increased.

Stephanie Karl, a nutritionist at the JTS Medical Centre in Dubai, is increasingly seeing children being affected by “adult” diseases, including hypertension and diabetes. “Sadly we are seeing the issue of fatty liver, commonly caused due to alcohol consumption, but now an increasing metabolic issue,” says Karl. “And it is being found in children as young as 8 because of this shift in the last decade to a more carb- and sugar-based diet.”

She says children are naturally drawn to sugar, which has a maximising effect on their serotonin (a hormone that affects mood) but no effect on their peptide YY or fullness receptors. “That is fulfilled by protein and fat. So they can continue to feel pleasure but it does not fill them up, leading to cravings and overeating.”

Mitun De Sarkar, a licensed dietician and nutrition consultant at Northwest Clinic’s Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism in Dubai, says such drinks slowly strip away nutrients from the body and, in many cases, lead to irreversible damage. “Sugary drinks, colas and sodas contain high levels of sugar, acids and preservatives,” she says.

“When kids consume excessive sugar it causes tooth decay and cavities and corrodes the dental enamel due to high acid levels. Soda consumption has also been linked to bone density loss and lack of calcium in young kids, diarrhoea and bloating.”

They also cause a lack of concentration, low memory and hyperactivity. “Colas and energy drinks with high levels of caffeine stimulate receptors in the body that control blood pressure, heart rate and state of alertness.”

De Sarkar warns of their long-term effects. “Daily sugar consumption in childhood has been linked to violent behaviour later in life. Sugar addiction is harmful to kids. It can continue into adulthood and is a major contributor to the current obesity epidemic in kids and adults.”

Watson says he wouldn’t risk overdosing Tia with sugar because she is active. “She cannot keep still, so if we allowed her to eat and drink such sugary items she would be bouncing off the walls and utterly uncontrollable.”

He says a good solution to wean them off such foodstuffs is to get them involved in the cooking process. “We try to get her interested in food and cooking and [she] is heavily involved in grocery shopping.”

With drinks, he says, they have instilled the habit of reaching out for a glass of water when thirst kicks in. “With juices, we try to keep them to a minimum as well,” he says. “And we freshly squeeze them at home or buy prepared ones that are organic and have no added sugar and preservatives.” Karl agrees and suggests milk as an alternative.

De Sarkar says parents can get creative and make popsicles with fresh fruit juices as a reward to children for accepting those changes.

Watson's company is currently working on getting Warriors of Health (www.facebook.com/WarriorsOfHealth) up and running in Dubai schools. This interactive health campaign will introduce children to healthy living lessons, physical education, new sports and better canteen options.

“It’s not easy parenting and trying to keep your children healthy in these times – we have and still are going through our battles on this. But it is not impossible.”

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