The statistics for school exclusions, bullying, anti-social behaviour and other problems in classrooms nationwide make alarming reading. Countless studies have proved a link with junk food and behavioural problems, but there was still outcry from many quarters recently when Ofcom announced it was to ban junk food advertising from children’s TV programming. Surely the health of our children is more important than advertising revenues – isn’t it? Those who moaned that the future for children’s television programming would be ‘bleak’, ignore the fact that excessive TV viewing is linked with obesity and bad behaviour too.
In this column some time ago I applauded Jamie Oliver, who got the issue of children’s food high on the public agenda with his TV programme Jamie’s School Dinners. Soon after he handed in his Feed Me Better petition, former education secretary Ruth Kelly pledged £280m for better school dinners, and set up an advisory body, the School Food Trust.
Oliver’s efforts are still paying dividends. New legislation covering school food came into force last autumn, stipulating that school dinners in England must exclude crisps, chocolate, fizzy drinks and ‘low-quality’ meat. School children must be served at least two portions of fruit and vegetables with every meal and deep-fried food is restricted to two portions per week.
From September 2007, schools will not be allowed to sell confectionery, savoury snacks (unless they're free from added salt, sugar or fat) or sweetened drinks in tuck shops. They must sell a variety of fruit and vegetable products, such as fresh juices, and must provide access to free, fresh water. And from 2008, primary schools will need to stipulate the vitamin content of school meals. This new awareness about food is great news for parents – and society as a whole – and a sign that ‘we are what we eat’ is finally being taken seriously. Steiner schools worldwide have always had a ‘no processed foods’ rule, but it is pleasing to see that the state is catching up at last.
Recently I watched a documentary about a primary school which tried cutting out all food additives for two weeks. A class of hyper-active kids whom teachers were finding nearly impossible to teach were transformed into calm, kind, happy children within days of switching to an additive free diet. Their social skills improved, they found it easier to concentrate at school, displayed higher IQ’s than before, and teachers were finding it hard to believe they were the same children. (See www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factschools.htm for the schools that have tried this and what they’ve experienced.)
It’s made me far more obsessive about reading the labels, even on foods I would have previously considered ‘healthy’, and I found many sites on the internet that are mines of information. These three are really worth a look.
www.snackcheck.co.uk provides information about the nutritional content of popular snacks, and features a nutritional analysis tool to compare products. You might be surprised to see that the bar that helps you work rest and play has a nutritional rating of 0 for example, while that well known drink, Carbonated Water, Sugar, Caramel Sulphite Ammonia (E150d), Phosphoric Acid (E338), Undefined Flavouring, Caffeine has a nutritional rating of minus 30. Even seemingly innocuous little snacks can contain Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), which studies have linked with hyperactivity and attention deficit in children. It’s eye opening to see the ingredients right there on screen, particularly if you’re not in the habit of looking at labels.
Another interesting site is the Hyperactive Child Support Group website www.hcsg.org.uk which is a campaigning body, lobbying government and food manufacturers. For 28 years this group has been voicing its concern over the increasing use of chemical additives in our children's food. Pressure on food companies has resulted in some reducing or removing chemicals from products.
The mother of all food additive websites is Australian pressure group the Food Intolerance Network’s www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info . This was set up by food intolerance expert Sue Dengate, a mother and former teacher who researched how food was affecting children’s behaviour and came up with some shocking results. The site gives comprehensive lists of foods to avoid if your child is displaying behavioural problems, has a lot of tantrums, or has asthma, eczema, ADHD and other common childhood complaints, and Dengate has written many books on the subject. I must admit I had never given a second thought to preservatives in bread before I read her research.
Parents concerned about the low nutritional, high chemical content of so many foods on the market today know the effect of boycotting junk food. If campaigners and individuals continue to put pressure on food manufacturers to act more responsibly, perhaps we could look forward to a time where the food manufactured for children is actually good for them. CE

If you have room for a little boxed out table,please include it, but not to worry if no space,
Thanks,
Catherine

Additives to avoid
from www.fedup.com.au

COLOURS
102,104,107,110,122,123,124,127,128,
129,132,133,142,151,155
natural colour 160b (annatto)

PRESERVATIVES
Sorbates 200-203
Benzoates 210-213
Sulphites 220-228
Nitrates, nitrites 249-252
Propionates 280-283

SYNTHETIC ANTIOXIDANTS
Gallates 310-312
TBHQ, BHA, BHT 319-321

FLAVOUR ENHANCERS
Glutamates incl MSG 620-625
Ribonucleotides 627, 631, 635
Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (HVP)

ARTIFICIAL FLAVOURS
No numbers since they are trade secrets