Does colorants, flavourants and pesticides belong in your child's diet?

It has been said that perhaps the most significant choice we can make in terms of enhancing our health and that of the environment is to eat organic food. But it should be an even more important choice to feed our children organic food as far as possible. 

More often than not food for children, whether in the form of packaged biscuits, a "children's menu" in a restaurant, or fast food, means food that is over-processed, over-flavored, over-colored and generally high in sugar, fat and salt. That is, the worse food for those that we are supposed to care for the most. In most developed countries the food industry is focused on convenience, price and so-called kids' appeal. Ironically the baby food industry is fairly well regulated worldwide, but the moment the baby becomes a toddler, she or he is subject to a food industry with no guidelines and certainly no legislation regarding the nutritional quality of the food it serve toddlers and children. 

Nutrition and food choices play a crucial role in the development of conditions such as obesity, asthma and diabetes. Healthier food choices can help to prevent the onset of serious chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis and about one-third of cancers. 

Unethical ways used to market children's food give unhealthy foods an unfair advantage over healthier options. They use popular cartoon characters and competitions  in promotions and come with free gifts and tokens. In the UK a recent study showed that advertisement on children's television for unhealthy foods far outnumbered those for healthy options, The fact is our children want to eat what they see advertised, and fruit and vegetables don't come with fancy labels so the motivation to eat them is simply not there.  

Colorants, flavourants and preservatives are also major culprits in children's foods, and often occur where you least expect them such as in the seemingly harmless fruit juice you thought you were buying. 

The term flavourant on a label can be used to cover over 4000 different chemicals, however all the label has to declare is the word flavourants. Flovourants in the food industry come in various forms ranging from 'artificial', through 'nature identical', 'natural' and 'flavor from the natural fruit'. Artificial and nature-identical flavors are created synthetically from various chemical compounds. Natural flavourants are supposed to be made from natural ingredients only and are normally created in a laboratory from a variety of unrelated natural flavors, i.e. from natural vanilla, apple and carrot may be used to create a new flavor unrelated to any of the individual components. Flavor from natural fruit is the least changed flavor and the best if you have to have something containing flavourants.  Current legislation in many countries does not require a food or beverage manufacturer to differentiate between these flavourants on the ingredient list.

Other products on ingredients list to look after are those used to bulk up food, even used in baby food. These products contribute virtually no nutritional value, often adversely affect taste and are used predominantly to increase the mass or 'bulk' of a product allowing the manufacturing to produce a cheaper product. The culprits in this category include the following: maltodextrin, starch, modified starch and modified maize starch. 

Another major cause of concern are pesticides and herbicides in our children's diets. The maximum allowable residue levels in most foods are dictated by governments, however levels are checked and policed infrequently, and even less often when the food is processed rather than fresh. 

If you feel that chemicals, starch and pesticides don't belong in your child's diet you can try to use organic food and ingredients whenever possible. They are least likely to contain any pesticide residues and their rules explicitly prohibit the use of synthetic colorants, flavourants and preservatives. For you to be assured of this, the product may only be called organic if the growing and manufacturing process has been inspected by a third-party accredited certifier. Look for the certifier's label on the product. And remember even if you're not fully convinced but only think that organic  'maybe' is better, why take the risk. 

As far as possible we can educate ourselves to understand our children's dietary needs. Don't rely on the food industry, or government agencies to ensure you that the food you child eats is safe and nutritious - there are no short-cuts you have to do the homework. 

(Information from an article originally published in the SA Journal of Natural Medicine)