This interesting article appeared in The Sunday Times at the weekend:


Fat chance

Being overweight means serious health risks for children. But switching to a practical eating plan that cuts out sugar hits could help them grow up, not out, says Amanda Ursell


With low-glycaemic eating fast capturing the mind of the adult slimmer, the question is whether it could also help stem the UK’s tide of overweight children. While nobody in their right mind would dream of putting a child on the Atkins diet or hoicking them off to WeightWatchers, it seems the low glycaemic index (GI) way of eating may play a role in tackling childhood weight issues. Experts also say that low-GI eating has benefits for normal-weight children, potentially helping to improve their concentration and reduce the risk of tooth decay, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease in later life.

When going low-GI with overweight children, certain golden rules remain. As Anita Bean, a specialist in children’s nutrition, explains: “Chubbiness in babies and toddlers is regarded as normal — desirable, even. Being genuinely overweight as they grow older, however, puts children’s health at risk. With very young children, it is important to get your doctor’s opinion as to whether they are carrying excess fat; if so, a referral to a dietician for one-to-one advice is a good idea.” For children over the age of five, you can tell if your child is a healthy weight by working out their body mass index (BMI) and checking it against a scale designed for children (see chart below). If they fall outside the normal limits, then following a low-GI way of eating could prove a healthy and safe way for their weight to stabilise and for them to grow up, not out.

Here’s why. The GI is a method of ranking any carbohydrate food — from sugar and honey to pulses, carrots, bread, and potatoes — on a scale of 1-100, according to the extent to which they raise sugar levels in our blood after eating. High-GI foods cause a rapid surge in blood sugar levels and have a GI number above 70. Those with a GI number below 55 cause a slow and small rise, and are classed as low GI. Those in between have a medium GI.

As Bean explains, following a low-GI diet means that children will be eating fewer foods containing sugar and fat, such as sweets and crisps, and more nutrient-packed ones, such as fruit and nuts. Such foods seem naturally to control hunger and appetite. For example, research has found that children eating a low-GI breakfast of porridge then consumed about 600 calories at lunchtime, compared with about 750 calories on days when they had a high-GI breakfast of white bread and Corn Flakes. The slight appetite-increasing effect of high-GI foods seems to come from the hormone insulin, which is released in large amounts following the high and swift sugar hit they cause. The insulin surge is designed to remove the excess sugar and take it away for storage — often in fat cells — but it also increases hunger. The very nature of low-GI eating can also help to effortlessly “lose” unwanted excess calories in a child’s food intake. For example, a typical lunch for an overweight child may consist of a salami stick, a chocolate biscuit, crisps and a fruit drink. Now imagine a low-GI lunch such as a ham and tomato granary roll, plain yoghurt and a pure orange-juice drink.

The consequences of such changes are likely, initially, to lead to vociferous remonstrations, but research suggests that children will settle down and accept such changes within a few weeks. And it’s well worth dealing with the complaints, because the low-GI swap naturally reduces calories. See the chart below for appropriate calorie intakes according to a child’s age and sex.

It isn’t just overweight children who benefit from swapping a predominantly high-GI to a mostly low-GI way of eating. If calories are correct for their age and sex, the fact that low-GI foods require less insulin to be produced by the pancreas means they may also reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes in later life. Low-GI eating also tends to see fat levels drop from, say, 100g to 50g a day, with levels of saturated fat also falling dramatically. Such changes could significantly reduce the chances of contracting early heart disease.

The natural weeding-out of refined foods can also result in a fall in salt levels from a typical 7g a day (which is above the recommended amount, even for adults) to 3g, an acceptable level for children. Such reductions protect them against developing high blood pressure and lessen the strain on their kidneys.

Replacing a high-GI diet with a low-GI one also dramatically cuts sugar and additives. Both, especially additives such as the yellow food colourings tartrazine (E102) and sunset yellow (E110), found in drinks, jams and cakes, can trigger behavioural problems and poor concentration in some children. These additives — along with red colourings Ponceau 4R (E124) and Carmoisine (E122), found in pie fillings, fruit pastilles and jellies, and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211), found in sweets, cakes, cola and orange fizzy drinks — are removed when following a low-GI diet. And, of course, less sugar, especially between meals in the form of snacks and drinks, means less tooth decay. Finally, low-GI eating tends to increase the consumption of fibre, vitamins and supernutrients, all of which combine to promote general good health.

Nobody is saying that changing children’s diets to include more low-GI foods, while cutting back on high-GI foods, will be easy. Nor can you police your children’s intake of these foods 100% of the time. They will eat them at friends’ houses, at parties and as treats. But the sooner you begin making these low-GI alternatives the rule and high-GI foods the exception, the sooner your children will feel the benefits.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspa...1311687,00.html