IDAI Warns Parents to Beware of Hidden Sugar in Children's Food

Illustration of sugar content in children. (Freepik)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Pediatric Association (IDAI) reminds parents to pay more attention to the sugar content in various food products consumed by children. The reason is that sugar often comes in disguised form in foods and beverages that appear healthy on the market.

The Chairman of the IDAI Central Board, Dr. Piprim Basarah Yanuarso, Sp.A, Subsp. Kardio (K), said that information on the packaging label is an important key to protecting children from food intake that has the potential to have a negative impact on health.

"Labels are a tool to protect or protect our children from unhealthy food intake or make them slowly get sick. Then from the side of the composition of the ingredients on the label, there are usually many written there that we must be aware of is the sugar content, especially," said Piprim in a webinar monitored in Jakarta, Tuesday.

According to him, the biggest challenge in reading food labels is the many derivative terms of sugar used by manufacturers. The longer the list of ingredients, the more difficult it is for parents to recognize the sugar content in it. Therefore, accuracy in reading labels is very important.

He emphasized that parents have a major role in controlling children's food intake. Many products that are heavily advertised, especially through television, are often described as healthy foods, even though the contents in them are not necessarily in accordance with the claims displayed.

Piprim explained that sugar disguised through various derivative terms can make a product classified as an ultraprocessed food (UPF), which is a type of highly processed food that has been proven to be related to various disease risks.

"In the latest pyramid from the United States, we have seen how this ultraprocessed food has become a type of food that needs to be watched and given carefully to our children because," he said.

In addition to sugar, he also reminded parents to be more critical of claims on food packaging, such as writing without added sugar, total sugar in the product, salt levels, and products marketed as supplements.

He added that various health disorders that are now increasingly experienced by children and adolescents, such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and high blood sugar levels, are inseparable from the influence of unhealthy eating patterns and lifestyles.

"Choosing or paying attention to the labels of our children's food is one of our efforts, including parents to protect children from the possibility of being infected, affected by diseases due to lifestyle or lifestyle diseases that can actually be prevented, one of which is by paying attention to what our children consume. Of course, real food is the best way for our children to grow healthy," he concluded.