Is it good for children to eat snacks?

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Snacks are popular snacks for many children. However, nutrition experts recommend that children should not eat a lot of processed foods such as: snacks, fast food, canned food,... If children eat too many snacks without paying attention to them. Other foods will lead to an imbalance in the diet and reduce resistance, increasing the risk of disease.

1. Composition of snacks?

Snacks, also known as snacks, appear quite popular in the market. This is a snack that is loved by children because of its attractive color and taste. There are many varieties, based on the seasoning: spicy, shrimp, beef, crab,... very rich and diverse. Mainly, the snacks are salty, spicy, or sweet.
The main ingredients of bim chips include: cornstarch, flour, rice flour, vegetable oil, potatoes, peanuts, and grains. In addition, in bim bim also contains many other ingredients such as: salt, sugar, natural sweet flavor, natural and synthetic varieties, soy sauce flavor, flavor enhancer, natural color, sweetener, anti-caking agent , Stabilizers,...

2. Is it good for children to eat snacks?

Is eating snacks good for health? Bim bim is a snack that is loved by many children because of its attractive color and taste. However, the palatability sometimes does not come with the element of health safety, especially for instant foods that are fried through fat and use a lot of additives such as chips.
In the snacks contains a lot of cooking oil, according to Prof. Peter Weissberg, medical director of BHF: "If you eat a packet of snacks every day, a year, your child's body will absorb about 5 liters of oil." (a pack of 35g chips contains 2.5 tablespoons of oil). In addition to cooking oil, the ingredients in the snacks also contain a lot of salt and sugar. Consuming a large amount of acrylamide in each packet of snacks increases the risk of kidney cancer, especially in smokers. Processing chips at high temperatures should produce isomeric fats. If this percentage of fat accounts for 5-10% or more of the total fat of a person's daily diet, it can lead to health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure. In the snack contains preservatives, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, ... these substances have almost no nutritional value. Contains stabilizers, emulsifiers, preservatives including acids, making babies susceptible to diseases related to taste disorders. Creates an environment for bacteria to grow that causes tooth decay. Acrylamide from foods such as potato chips and snacks may increase the risk of pediatric blood pressure and developing heart disease. Mental retardation and increased risk of other dangerous diseases

3. The harmful effects of snacks

3.1 Causing gastrointestinal disease, loss of appetite The starch and fat content in snacks, oishi makes children full, causing a feeling of fullness, poor appetite, which will make children lose their appetite for main meals, leading to poor appetite. to children who are undernourished, malnourished, and slow to gain weight.
In the snack contains preservatives, cooking oil makes the digestive system stagnate, the process of digesting food is blocked, leading to a number of gastrointestinal diseases such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, stomach pain. ,... Increases the risk of peptic ulcer disease, stomach cancer by destroying the protective membrane of the stomach lining and helping Helicobacter Pylori bacteria thrive.
3.2 Easy to get obesity, cardiovascular diseases Eating snacks will gain weight? If a child eats a packet of snacks every day, in a year will absorb up to 5 liters of oil into the body. A 35g packet of french fries contains 2.5 tablespoons of oil. Larger bags increase the amount of oil up to 3.5 tablespoons. Thus, this harmful fat content with sugar, salt, and additives can make children obese and suffer from cardiovascular disease, especially when entering puberty.
3.3 Causing fatigue to the body, poor concentration Substances in snacks cause nerve inhibition, cancer, fatigue, poor concentration, muscle and joint pain... These substances also cause inhibition. effects on the male and female genital organs, the nervous system of the fetus and young child. Added sugar in snacks is refined sugar, the nutrients in it have been removed during the manufacturing process. This sugar does not contain any nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, enzymes or beneficial fats and fibers. Loading the same amount of sugar daily will cause great harm to health: causing tooth decay, obesity, lazy eating, digestive disorders,... The substances in the snack are not good for the health of children. .
3.4 Causes kidney diseases and blood pressure In the snacks contains a high amount of salt, to make the snack more attractive and easier to eat. Also, when you eat too much salt, blood pressure medications like diuretics won't be able to work as well. And increased blood pressure will increase the work intensity of the cardiovascular system, kidneys and urinary system, causing many harmful health risks such as stroke, heart failure, kidney failure. Especially, if you already have high blood pressure, liver failure, heart failure and kidney failure, the habit of eating a lot of salt will make the disease progress faster.
3.5 Causing the risk of infertility According to a number of American scientific studies, there are Acrylamide in the snacks, a chemical found in many chips and snacks. The absorption of large amounts of acrylamide will increase the risk of kidney cancer, causing many other consequences, including infertility.

3.6 Easy to get asthma The snack bag is made of nylon, plastic contains many toxins, these chemicals seep into the food from the packaging causing asthma. The toxin in food packaging that leads to this disease is Bisphenol-A or BPA, which is often found in electric kettles or plastic containers and plastic bags. BPA can cause asthma in children 5-12 years old.

4. Alternative solutions for children's snacks

To protect children's health, parents should not let children eat snacks or processed snacks. Instead, you should increase the foods rich in healthy nutrients such as vegetables, nuts, grains,... Add a variety of DHA-rich fish, meat, shrimp, etc. .. such as:
Fruits that are not too sweet like dragon fruit, banana, avocado, strawberry,... Yogurt, cheese Homemade cakes like sweet potato cakes, pumpkins, cupcakes, fruit skewers, ... In addition, mothers can make their own snacks for children with clean ingredients and ensure the process, limiting impurities and unhealthy additives.
In short, snacks are popular snacks for many children. However, chips are fried foods that contain many additives that are not good for children's health. If children eat too many snacks without paying attention to other foods, it will lead to an imbalance in nutrition and reduce resistance, increasing the risk of disease.

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