Think out of the box

It's a Friday morning, so there's a good chance that you're labouring over a home-cooked breakfast of delicious pancakes or grilled wholesome sandwiches and freshly-prepared banana shakes for your kids. Well, kudos to you if you are! But what about breakfasts on weekdays?

Given today's hectic pace, the breakfast scenario on weekdays is likely to be slightly different. Come Sunday morning and in all likelihood your groggy-eyed kid will be gulping down his bowlful of cereal and milk before rushing off to catch his school bus. Cereal, you said? But cereal's a healthy option, isn't it? So is there reason to be worried?

Well, this is an issue that's being debated in health and parenting circles. Parents who pay attention to the snacks they pack for their kids to take to school need to be applauded, so do those who only make allowances for ice cream and pizza during the weekends. However, it's a little worrisome and surprising to find that the same parents do not think twice or stop to read the list of ingredients on the box before tossing a cartoon-themed breakfast cereal pack into their grocery trolley every week.

Learning about the effect of these flakes on our children's health is crucial. Just because a box of cereal carries the word ‘healthy' does not mean it is. In fact it's time we learn the facts and read the fine print, say health experts.

We tend to believe that youngsters have a lot of time to burn off the extra calories that they ingest when they eat foods high in sugar, but that may not always be so. Research has shown that consumers (read ‘harried parents') need a quick (read ‘no cooking involved'), and apparently healthy breakfast option that kids won't make a fuss over.

While some adults may take more time to read the ingredient list on the cereal package and weigh out the options before choosing a certain brand for themselves - when it comes to children they choose the easy way out - allow the child to make the choice. But is this the right way? The reason a child chooses a particular brand of cereal could be the colour of the package or the toy that comes along with it... Rarely will it have anything to do with the nutritious nature of the contents.

So how does one create the right breakfast diet for kids? I asked Dr Samitha Rajkumar, paediatrician at Unicare Medical Centre in Dubai for tips.

Too sweet for comfortMany people have now switched to wholegrain, unprocessed cereals avoiding those that contain too much sugar. But when buying cereals for children, we don't place the same importance by checking the label. But we should because several cereals are particularly high in refined sugar.

Most kids' cereals are sweetened artificially by adding refined sugar, glucose syrup and partially inverted brown sugar syrup. Almost all children have a sweet tooth and certain brands of cereal work on this fact and simply try to create a taste that children will naturally be drawn to.

According to Dr Rajkumar, giving children a cereal that is high in sugar first thing in the morning is not a healthy habit. "It may give them a good energy kick early in the day but after a while, their glucose levels start dropping.'' This rapid fluctuation is not good for children, she says.

"Just like the medical advice that diabetics follow, there's a need to keep glucose levels stable at all times, and that includes children's sugar intake. Sugar cravings increase if you feed them excessively sugary foods. They could get addicted as a result."

Assuming a sweetened cereal is consumed regularly during school years, a child is very likely to end up with a love for sugary foods and consequently, could be at a risk for certain health conditions as an adult. Of course, breakfast has to offer an energy kick for the day, but the damage from sugar lasts longer. There's really no need to include excessive refined sugars in children's breakfasts, say experts.

As Dr Rajkumar explains, "Breakfast has to give us only sufficient energy to get through the first half of the day. The rest will be taken care of when we have lunch or healthy snacks around noon."

The solution: avoid cereals with high quantities of added refined sugar. "The sugar content in a cereal should contribute to less than 25 per cent of the calories that are present in the cereal," recommends Dr Rajkumar.

However, a dictatorial attitude may not work with kids if they already have a habit of eating sweet cereals.

"Kids can be persuaded to experiment with unsweetened cereals that come with added dry fruits such as raisins, apricots, dried berries and so on. These will not only include natural sugars but will also consist of more fibre than other cereals. Therefore, they won't be as damaging. Parents can also add fresh fruit to an unsweetened wholemeal cereal to make it more palatable to kids," says Dr Rajkumar.

Colour me not

Taking second place among the unhealthy ingredients in kids cereals are the chemical colouring agents that make up many of those flakes, pops and puffs that look so attractive to kids. It's emerging that there are some chemicals present even in additives considered ‘safe' and these colourants can cause allergies for children. As Dr Rajkumar confirms, certain coloured breakfast cereals can cause a host of allergies. "A particular culprit among breakfast cereal additives is tartrazine, also called FD&C Yellow #5," explains Dr Rajkumar.

"It's imperative to watch out for coloured foods, especially in the case of children because some children could be sensitive to different chemicals. It's only when we go deep into the dietary history of a child suffering from an allergic reaction that we realise they might be consuming [food with] artificial colours. We consume so many chemically processed foods nowadays that it isn't easy to isolate a food additive as a culprit for a skin rash," she adds.

The solution, she recommends then, is to generally avoid coloured versions of breakfast cereals.

Don't get sucked in

When picking a cereal pack, we are often taken in by a big bright starburst proclaiming ‘added minerals and vitamins.' But says Dr Rajkumar,"these come last in the line of what you should be looking for from a breakfast cereal. If the cereal is high in refined sugar and gives the milk a fluorescent colour, then I don't think the added calcium can undo the damage done by the other unhealthy ingredients. Added vitamins don't make a major difference to a child's health because they are not naturally present in the food but are artificially added."

Healthy kids cereal criteriaBesides being low in added sugars and colouring additives, cereals should meet other criteria too in order to be considered a healthy breakfast option for kids. The criteria is as follows: High-fibre contentStay away from cereals made from refined grains. There are a number of wholegrain cereal options available in the market.

Make sure the cereal you are picking is not a mix of refined and wholegrain. Single-ingredient wholegrain cereals (for example, shredded wheat, puffed wheat, oatmeal) qualify as wholegrain and are a good bet.

But if you see milled corn meal, wheat flour and so on in the list of ingredients, you're getting a mixture of whole and refined grains.

Adding dried or fresh fruit will also add to the fibre content and serve as a natural sweetener. Absence of trans-fatsAs far as partially hydrogenated fats (PHFs) or trans-fats (the unhealthy fats) go, most branded cereals have completely eliminated these. However, there is no harm in double-checking the labels for PHFs and trans-fats. Low sodiumThanks to an increased awareness among consumers, many cereal brands have reduced sodium in their products. Although children don't show the effects of a high-sodium diet when they are still young - the effect will show only in adulthood.

Brands these days are keeping the sodium content to a minimum, which is added mainly during processing.

As Dr Rajkumar explains, "Anything with over 180mg of sodium per 30gm of cereal is quite high." When choosing a cereal, select one that has theleast sodium.

Seeing through consumer tacticsWhile a parent's decision to choose a cereal may be based on what's on the back of the box (the ingredients), kids go for foods on the basis of what's on the front of the box.

Their preferences are influenced by the fluorescent coloured bubbles that tell them about competitions, puzzles, games, freebies and links to blockbuster kids movies.

Dr Saliha Afridi, clinical psychologist at the Human Relations Institute in Dubai, feels that parents are fighting an uphill battle when trying to promote healthy eating habits for their children.

The problem, she says, is that we are living in a society that is relentlessly promoting convenient, and consequently unhealthy, choices.

"Breakfast cereal companies spend billions of dollars marketing themselves as healthy and convenient choices," says Afridi.

"Children do not have the cognitive abilities and skills to grasp the effects of advertising and cannot understand when advertisers are trying to sell them something.

"Parents may understand marketing tactics, but their children usually nag or pester them to the point that the parent often gives in to the child's endless pleas.

"Some parents, who know that a cereal is unhealthy, will often make an ‘exception,' so that their children will at least eat something before going to school," she says.

So what is the way out?

Simple, say experts. Parents should make informed, healthy food choices for kids. They also need to remember that the food habits they teach their kids now will influence their food choices in later life. The habits are sure to stand them in good stead all their lives.

High sugar facts

Watch out for added sugar on the nutritional information box. Sugar content in cereal should contribute to less than 25 per cent of the calories that are in a cereal.

Sometimes children insist on adding a spoonful of sugar to the milk. Well, that's double the damage to a child's health as you just pile on more sugar to a bowl of already sweet cereal.

Kids develop the same habits you teach. Be conscious about cereal sugars right from the early stages. Refrain from adding sugar to any weaning foods. Teach kids about sugar early on.

High sugar cereals may cause an addiction (high craving) for sugar among children. This leads to fluctuations in glucose levels causing mood swings and hyperactivity. Besides a high sugar diet on a regular basis will lead to adolescent obesity and creates a risk for diabetes in later years.

Make it a habit

Most parents find it difficult to get kids to eat in the morning. Dr Rajkumar has a few tips for getting kids started on a breakfast routine:

Children like to stick to a routine. They are happy when everything is according to a schedule.

Sleeping early and waking up on time is important for a healthy lifestyle for young school-going children. Parents need to accept the fact that early school bus timings are something that cannot be changed.

A rushed schedule in the mornings can create a lot of stress for a child. Wake up your child giving him or her enough time to relax and get ready.

Guzzling down fluids five minutes before they get onto the bus can make a child particularly prone to travel sickness.

Create a weekly breakfast menu for the kids; the only criteria is that it should be ‘child friendly'. Make it a little more fun for them by creating a colourful picture menu on the weekend where they decide what they would like to eat for breakfast during the week. This activity will even make fussy kids behave more responsibly and parents can always cite the menu created by them if they refuse breakfast. Although it is difficult to make breakfast early in the morning, with a bit of planning, it is definitely achievable.

What's the ideal breakfast for kids?

As Dr Rajkumar says, breakfast should be the best meal of the day for children. A healthy substantial breakfast will keep their glucose level up through the morning so that they get a good start to the day. "Breakfast should provide at least 25 per cent of the energy requirements for the day," says Dr Rajkumar. "If you talk to teachers, they'll tell you from experience that children who have had breakfast perform better.

An ideal breakfast for children should predominantly comprise carbohydrates and a bit of fat. Dr Rajkumar recommends the following options:

Wholegrain toast

Fruit smoothies

Fruits such as bananas

Wholegrain unsweetened cereal with dried or fresh fruit

Fresh fruit with yoghurt

Eggs

Wholegrain bread sandwich

Traditional hot breakfasts (mainly practical for weekends).