🔗 Share this article

T plague of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is a worldwide phenomenon. Even though their use is notably greater in developed countries, forming over 50% the average diet in places such as the United Kingdom and United States, for example, UPFs are taking the place of fresh food in diets on each part of the world.

Recently, a comprehensive global study on the health threats of UPFs was released. It alerted that such foods are leaving millions of people to persistent health issues, and called for immediate measures. Earlier this year, an international child welfare organization revealed that an increased count of kids around the world were obese than malnourished for the initial instance, as junk food floods diets, with the sharpest climbs in developing nations.

A leading public health expert, a scholar in the field of nourishment science at the University of São Paulo, and one of the review's authors, says that profit-driven corporations, not personal decisions, are driving the shift in eating patterns.

For parents, it can appear that the entire food system is opposing them. “On occasion it feels like we have zero control over what we are serving on our child's dish,” says one mother from the Indian subcontinent. We spoke to her and four other parents from across the globe on the expanding hurdles and annoyances of ensuring a nutritious food regimen in the age of UPFs.

Nepal: ‘She Craves Cookies, Chocolate and Juice’

Bringing up a child in Nepal today often feels like fighting a losing battle, especially when it comes to food. I make food at home as much as I can, but the instant my daughter steps outside, she is encircled by vibrantly wrapped snacks and sweetened beverages. She continually yearns for cookies, chocolates and bottled fruit beverages – products aggressively advertised to children. One solitary pizza commercial on TV is sufficient for her to ask, “Is it possible to eat pizza today?”

Even the educational setting encourages unhealthy habits. Her cafeteria serves flavored drink every Tuesday, which she looks forward to. She is given a small package of biscuits from a friend on the school bus and chocolates on birthdays, and faces a chip shop right outside her school gate.

On certain occasions it feels like the complete dietary landscape is working against parents who are just striving to raise well-nourished kids.

As someone associated with the Nepal Non-Communicable Disease Alliance and heading a project called Promoting Healthy Foods in Schools, I grasp this issue profoundly. Yet even with my expertise, keeping my eight-year-old daughter healthy is incredibly difficult.

These ongoing experiences at school, in transit and online make it almost unfeasible for parents to restrict ultra-processed foods. It is not only about what kids pick; it is about a dietary structure that makes standard and advocates for unhealthy eating.

And the statistics shows clearly what families like mine are experiencing. A comprehensive population report found that a significant majority of children between six and 23 months ate poor dietary items, and 43% were already drinking sweetened beverages.

These numbers echo what I see every day. A study conducted in the area where I live reported that 18.6% of schoolchildren were carrying excess weight and a smaller yet concerning fraction were suffering from obesity, figures strongly correlated with the increase in junk food consumption and less active lifestyles. Further research showed that many Nepali children eat sugary treats or salty packaged items nearly every day, and this habitual eating is tied to high levels of dental cavities.

This nation urgently needs stronger policies, improved educational settings and tougher advertising controls. Before that happens, families will continue engaging in an ongoing struggle against processed items – a single cookie pack at a time.

Caribbean Challenges: When Fast Food Becomes the Default

My circumstances is a bit unique as I was compelled to move from an island in our archipelago that was destroyed by a powerful storm last year. But it is also part of the stark reality that is affecting parents in a region that is experiencing the very worst effects of global warming.

“The situation definitely deteriorates if a storm or mountain explosion wipes out most of your vegetation.”

Before the occurrence of the storm, as a dietary educator, I was extremely troubled about the growing spread of quick-service eateries. Nowadays, even community markets are complicit in the transformation of a country once characterized by a diet of nutritious home-produced fruits and vegetables, to one where greasy, salty, sugary fast food, loaded with artificial ingredients, is the preference.

But the scenario definitely intensifies if a hurricane or mountain activity wipes out most of your vegetation. Fresh, healthy food becomes scarce and prohibitively costly, so it is incredibly challenging to get your kids to have a proper diet.

Regardless of having a regular work I wince at food prices now and have often opted for picking one of items such as vegetables and meat and eggs when feeding my four children. Providing less food or diminished quantities have also become part of the recovery survival methods.

Also it is quite convenient when you are balancing a demanding job with parenting, and rushing around in the morning, to just give the children a small amount of cash to buy snacks at school. Sadly, most educational snack bars only offer highly packaged treats and carbonated beverages. The outcome of these hurdles, I fear, is an rise in the already alarming levels of non-communicable illnesses such as adult-onset diabetes and high blood pressure.

Kampala's Landscape: A Fast-Food Dominated Environment

The logo of a major fried chicken chain looms large at the entrance of a mall in a city district, tempting you to pass by without stopping at the drive-through.

Many of the children and parents visiting the mall have never gone beyond the borders of this East African nation. They certainly don’t know about the bygone era of hardship that inspired the founder to start one of the first worldwide restaurant networks. All they know is that the brand name represent all things desirable.

Throughout commercial complexes and all local bazaars, there is convenience meals for all budgets. As one of the pricier selections, the fried chicken chain is considered a special occasion. It is the place local households go to mark birthdays and baptisms. It is the children’s reward when they get a good school report. In fact, they are hoping their parents take them there for the holidays.

“Mum, do you know that some people take takeaway for school lunch,” my adolescent child, who attends a school in the area, tells me. She says that on the days they do not pack that, they pack food from a regional restaurant brand selling everything from morning meals to burgers.

It is the end of the week, and I am only {half-listening|