Fussy eating, junk food take toll on urban children

Is your child getting the right nutrition? .

Over 80% of these mothers worry about their children’s nutritional requirements and believe that fussy eating behaviour impacted their children’s overall performance in school.

“Fussy eating is largely prevalent in the developmental stage. It usually begins sometime in the toddler years when children develop selective eating habits and throw temper tantrums. Fussy eating hampers physical growth—both in terms of height and weight,” said Rehan Khan, managing director, Abbott Nutrition, India.

The ‘Abbott SureMoms’ programme, the first-of-its-kind multi touch-point initiative, will be launched initially in six cities covering over 1 lakh parents.

“Parents can call a toll-free number to seek personalised expert nutri-counselling. They can also access a website that will be launched soon, which will have comprehensive information on nutrition and health. We will also partner with leading schools, nutritionists and paediatricians to further create awareness on the importance of right nutrition and help parents inculcate healthy eating habits among their children,” added Khan.

Paediatricians from the city say that anaemia is a cause for concern among children from upper-middle class and middle-class households, thanks to their poor eating habits. Experts opined that going by the case studies available, one-third to two-thirds of pre-schoolchildren are anaemic in Bangalore.

“Among my patients, I get to see around 40% of children with anaemia. And the two primary reasons include poor iron intake and iron losses in the body due to hookworm infestation,” said Dr Adarsh Somashekar, head-paediatrics, NationWide Primary Healthcare Services Private Ltd.

Moreover, it is more of a junk food-based diet for the middle-class and upper middle-class children today.

“Green leafy vegetables, jaggery, dates and cereals and pulses are rich sources of iron, which is not part of the food intake of most children,” said Dr Preethi Galagali, consultant paediatrician, Chord Road Hospital and member of Indian Academy of paediatricians.

“In one of the recent talks at a private school, when children were asked to mention about good sources of iron, instead of green leafy vegetable, they mentioned in chorus a particular brand of cornflakes. This only shows change in lifestyle and food habits that is leading to anaemia in children,” recalled Dr Galagali.

Malnutrition
According to experts, malnutrition is one of the reasons for anaemia because of improper weaning practices.

“Many a time, children are not introduced to solid food until about nine months or, in some instances, up to a year. Also, in some cases, children are not given enough fresh fruits and vegetables. Again, there is a common myth that cow’s milk is a rich source of iron. And parents depend on it to boost the iron level in child,” said Dr Somashekhar.

Anaemic moms  
“If mothers are anaemic, the iron stores transferred to the babies even before birth would be less. Breast milk production will be lesser. Subsequently, even the iron content of the milk will start decreasing. Hence, these kids are more likely to become anaemic,” Dr Somashekhar added.

When the mother is anaemic, it leads to threat for both the mother and the baby. “Anaemic mothers run the risk of infection and postpartem haemorrhage. Babies born from anaemic mothers have low birth rate and are prone to developing obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol later in life. They are also prone to developing infection,” said Dr Galagali.

Studies have shown that anaemia is related to brain development.
Mathematical abilities are low among anaemic kids and when the iron is replenished, they tend to perform better, added Dr Galagali.