Last week, my friend said to me, "Her daughter doesn't like to eat, she often eats small snacks, and every day her small hands are the milky smell of snacks." She doesn't seem to realize the seriousness of the child's inability to eat, nor the seriousness of snacking regularly.
After listening, I thought about it for a long time, referred to the information, and wrote this article about "children's snack additives".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 definition and function of food additives</h1>
(1) Definitions
Food additives refer to synthetic or natural substances added to food to improve food quality and color, aroma and taste, as well as for the needs of preservative, fresh and processing technology.
(2) Main role
1) Prevent deterioration
Preservatives can prevent food spoilage caused by microorganisms and prolong the shelf life of food. For example, the nitrite preservatives in sausages and bacon will prevent toxins from multiplying and make preserved products longer.
2) Improves the senses
The appropriate use of food additives such as colorants, color protectors, and bleaching agents can significantly improve the sensory quality of food. For example, colorants make macarons emit a seductive brilliance; emulsifiers and thickeners make ice cream soft and viscous; sweeteners make candy have a sweet taste.
3) Increase variety and convenience
There are more than 20,000 kinds of food products available for consumers to choose from, in the production project, some of the color, aroma, taste of the products, most of them add food additives to varying degrees. It is these many foods, especially the supply of convenience foods, that bring great convenience to people's lives and work.
(3) Food additives ≠ illegal additives
When many people mention food additives, they talk about tiger discoloration.
The "Sudan Red Duck Egg" incident in 2006, the "health product plasticizer" incident in 2011, the "sulfur smoked poisonous ginger" incident in 2013, the hanging white block in the bamboo, the Sudan red in the chili sauce, and the melamine in the milk powder are all illegal additives, not food additives.
Hanging white blocks can be used in the printing and dyeing industry, Sudan red can dye shoe polish, melamine can be made into melamine resin, they are used in the chemical industry, can benefit mankind. However, adding it to food is illegal.
In fact, so far, china's food safety incidents have not been caused by the rational use of food additives. Moreover, adding to food needs to meet the requirements of GB2760 in China's "Food Additives": clearly stipulate the name, type, scope of use, dosage and so on of food additives.
China has a set of perfect food additive system, which comprehensively covers the approval, production, use and sampling of finished products of food additives. Therefore, food additives are within the safe range, and there is no problem in adding them reasonably.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 The harm of eating additives in children</h1>
As we said earlier, food additives are within the safe range, and there is no problem with reasonable addition. But for small children, there is still a great harm.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has assessed that children aged 1 to 10 years do have higher exposures to additives and safety risks.
(1) It is easy to become an allergen of purpura in children
Surveys have shown that foods and additives are the most common causes of purpura in children. Preservatives and flavoring agents in food additives are more likely to become allergens than food.
(2) Affect children's growth and development
For normal people, the rational use of additives is no problem. However, for special groups such as pregnant women and children, food additives can easily reduce human immunity, affecting children's growth and development and nervous system health.
(3) It is easy to cause childhood obesity
A statement released by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reminds that some food additives increase the risk of childhood obesity.
According to the "China Child Obesity Report", the rate of childhood obesity in China continues to rise, and the current obesity rate of children aged 0-7 in major major cities is about 4.3%, and the obesity rate of school-age children over 7 years old is about 7.3%.
The report also proposes that some small snacks, coupled with additives such as fructose syrup in snacks, consume too much without attention, resulting in obesity.
(4) It is easy to lead to behavioral disorders
Long-term intake of additives that produce candy and soft drinks can lead to behavioral disorders such as ADHD, and artificial colors such as lemon yellow and sunset yellow can affect children's intelligence, and in severe cases, can lead to a decline in children's IQ.
Lancet, an authoritative medical journal in the United Kingdom, published a study by Donna McCann, a child health psychologist, pointed out that the flood of food additives is an important culprit for increasing children's hyperactivity, impatience and grumpiness.
In particular, the researchers singled out food additives such as Red 6, Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 4, which are abundantly found in snacks such as candies and biscuits.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 common children's snack additives</h1>
Now the child's snacks are many, and the last mother takes shrimp slices, milk beans, and dried fruits as an example to analyze in detail for everyone.
(1) Additives in "shrimp slices"
1) Disodium succinate
An umami agent, taken for a long time, the taste buds become dull and become more flavor-heavy.
2) Glyceryl monostearate
An emulsifier commonly used in puffed foods
3) Tert-butylhydroquinone
A novel antioxidant
(2) Additives in "milk beans"
1) Phospholipids and ammonium bicarbonate
Often found in biscuits or small snack ingredient lists, as a food additive, added to the dough, the role is to enhance the crisping effect, the taste is crisper and more delicious.
2) Fructose syrup
Many snacks have fructose syrup, which is used to add sweetness. Fructose syrup is one of the most important components of cola, mainly composed of glucose and fructose, because of its high sweetness and low cost, it is widely used.
(3) Additives in "vacuum fried dried fruits"
vegetable oil
Vacuum-fried dried fruit must have vegetable oil, and most of this vegetable oil is hydrogenated oils such as palm oil. Hydrogenated oil produces a large number of trans fatty acids, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other risks, and is restricted by countries around the world and is not suitable for children.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >04Why do you want to use a variety of additives in children's snacks</h1>
(1) Reduce costs
For example, in fruit dissolved beans, the product coagulation process is required, and bananas themselves contain a lot of pectin and are natural coagulants. However, if you replace it with pectin additives, the cost will be lower.
(2) Bright colors
Many merchants will attract children with brightly colored snacks, red, yellow, green, will attract children's appetite. Products made with additives such as colorants and pigments sell better than those made with natural raw materials such as spinach and purple potatoes.
(3) Good taste
As soon as you open the snack bag, the strong milk smell, not to mention children, even adults, is also salivating, and this strong milk flavor needs additives to help. Taking shrimp slices as an example, if you use real shrimp, the taste is relatively flat, but the use of additives will taste delicious.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >05How to buy healthy snacks for your child</h1>
(1) Learn to read the ingredient list
1) In the ingredient list, the higher the substance in the front, the higher the content. Taking children's shrimp slices as an example, try to buy the first or second place of shrimp products. In short, the higher the shrimp, the better the quality. In some shrimp slice ingredient lists, the shrimp content is lower than wheat flour, starch and vegetable oil, and such shrimp slices are not recommended.
2) Some shrimp slices do not have shrimp at all, but rely on shrimp sauce to flavor, such shrimp slices rely on condiments to enhance the taste, of course, is not recommended.
3) The simpler the ingredient list, the better, the more primitive the ingredients, the better, too many additives, too much processing, are not recommended. For example, the baby eats small biscuits, healthy biscuits, ingredients may only have wheat flour, eggs and other essential substances. Some inferior biscuits may contain chemical additives, such as aspartame, artificial colors, preservatives, flavors and so on.
(2) Learn to read the nutrition facts list
Our common nutrition facts list is divided into 3 columns, namely ingredients, content, NRV% (nutrient reference value%). There are five common items in the Nutrition Facts Table:
Energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates, sodium
1) There is a place in the calculation of nutrient content that is easy to ignore (the figure above is an example): every 100 grams. This column generally refers to the absolute content of the five major items in the food.
That is: every 100 grams of this food can provide energy 2400 kJ, protein 24 grams, fat 36.8 grams, carbohydrates 33 grams, sodium 60 mg.
2) Choose snacks for your child, and try to choose low carbohydrate and sodium content for your child.
There are two types of nori, one with a sodium content of 571 mg (per 100 grams) and one with a sodium content of 1070 mg (per 100 grams), and the first one will be better.
There are two hawthorn cakes with a carbohydrate content of 81.6 mg (per 100 grams) and a carbohydrate content of 97.2 mg (per 100 grams) per serving, and the first one will be better.
(3) "Do it yourself, eat and drink well"
There are a lot of snack additives bought outside, and mothers can make them for their children to make themselves, which is healthier.
1) Use the evening time wisely. Now there are more and more working mothers, the pressure of work is getting bigger and bigger, the working hours are getting longer and longer, and many mothers have no time. Mom suggested that everyone use the evening time. I make snacks for my children, often at night, while making snacks and listening to books, both working and learning knowledge.
2) Simple first, then complex. Some mothers feel that their hands-on ability is not good and will not do it for their children. I am afraid that it will be a waste of time and money, and I will end up playing with chickens and eggs.
The last mother suggested that everyone start from the simple, step by step, and slowly accumulate experience. Sometimes the general principles of sending, fermentation, etc. are the same. So, find a simple, fast snack to make!
Summary: Now, we seem to be living in the era of "additives", there are many children's snack additives on the market, whether imported or domestic, whether expensive or cheap, so I think that the most important way to reduce the impact of eating additives on children is: eat as little snacks as possible.
This article details food additives for parents, from its use to its hazards, to how to buy small snacks for their children, hoping to bring inspiration to mothers.
I am the last mother, a post-90s mother of the Chinese department. Share your parenting experience every day, bring you a full court of parenting, welcome to pay attention, we will walk on the road of parenting together.