A study on children's meal sets served in 15 restaurant chains has produced some rather worrying results: meal samples were found to be high in fat (including saturated fat), sugar or sodium contents.
In the worst cases, it means for children aged between 3 and 11 years, they would have consumed, in a single meal alone, in excess of their recommended daily intake of saturated fat, sugar or sodium.
The revelation followed a joint study between the Centre for Food Safety and the Consumer Council in an analysis of a wide variety of children's meals, which include the following popular food and beverage items: burgers, chicken wings, ribs, fries, noodles, pasta, rice, sushi, corn, pizza, cola, juice, milk, cake, sundae, etc.
The study compares the energy and nutrient content of different children's meals against the dietary recommended intakes (DRIs) or recommendations of the Chinese Nutrition Society (CNS) and World Health Organization (WHO) respectively.
The meal sets with the highest energy contents have a value of 1,300 kcal. For 4-year-old boys or 5-year-old girls, this amount equals to their energy requirement for a day.
In the test, the children's meal with the highest total fat content was found to contain 68 g of total fat, which equals to the maximum daily intake level in total fat for 11-year-old girls. It also means it has exceeded the maximum daily intake level for 3-9 year-old children.
In respect of saturated fat, the highest level in children's meal was 24 g, well in excess of the maximum daily intake level for 4 to 11-year-old children. The maximum daily intake level for 4-year-old girls is 11 g while that for 11-year-old boys is 21 g.
On sugar, the highest level in children's meal was 80 g, which is significantly higher than the maximum daily intake level for 3 to 11-year-old children. The maximum daily intake level for 3-year-old girls is 30 g while that for 11-year-old boys is 59 g, representing almost 2.7 times and 1.4 times the maximum daily intake level respectively.
On sodium, the highest level in children's meal was found to be 2,500 mg. The maximum daily intake level for 4 to 6-year-old children is 1,200 mg, that for 7 to 10-year-old children is 1,500 mg and that for 11-year-old children is 1,900 mg.
On the basis of these findings, some of the children's meals were found to be in need of reducing the levels of fat, sugar or sodium contents.
Some of the children's meal sets are highly sweetened due to the inclusion of beverages and desserts with high levels of sugar as well as some main food items with considerable sugar content, too.
Understandably, restaurant operators may not have in mind the nutrient content when designing their children's meal sets. Parents, on the other hand, should be wary of the high levels of fat, sugar or sodium in such meals as it is detrimental to the health of their children, especially when consumed frequently.
Wide variances were uncovered also in the levels of fat, sugar and sodium of children's meal sets in these restaurants, including among the different meal sets dished up by the same restaurant.
In designing children's meals, restaurants are urged to consult the Centre for Food Safety's "Trade Guidelines for Reducing Sugars and Fats in Foods," and "Trade Guidelines for Reducing Sodium in Foods" for producing healthier children's meals.
Parents should also play their part to ensure a balanced diet and choose foods that has lower levels of fat, sugar and sodium, for their children. They should be alerted on the needs of their children, what constitutes a balanced diet and select foods carefully. By doing so, a more healthy diet culture could be established for the family and reduce health risk from improper dietary habits.
Consumer Rights to Healthy Food
The study report is a timely wake-up call to children and parents on the prevalent problem of overweight and obesity among one-fifth of Hong Kong's primary school pupils, exposing them to the risk of early development of diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases in adulthood.
The report co-incides also with this year's theme of the World Consumer Rights Day on March 15: Consumer Rights to Healthy Food, as well as the latest WHO guideline on sugar intake for adults and children. WHO recommended a reduction of sugar intake to less than 10% of total energy intake and to below 5% if additional health benefits are sought. The Centre for Food Safety also supports and actively participates in the World Salt Awareness Week, which begins today (March 16).
The Consumers International (CI) is calling for a Global Convention to protect and promote healthy diets. According to the CI, the world is facing a major health crisis: poor diets are now the number one global risk factor for death.
Diet related diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are rising far faster in developing economies and resulted in more than 8 million people dying before their sixtieth birthdays in low and middle-income countries in 2013 alone. The subsequent medical and social cost brought to the society could be tremendous.
Advocating for the need of a global transformation in the way people eat, CI is assertive that "consumers don't just need the right to food; they need the right to healthy food."
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