Type 1 diabetes is not always a childhood issue but it’s also not the only type of diabetes than children/teenagers can get.
Unfortunately, the number of teens diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has increased dramatically. It doesn’t only affect the ‘obese teenagres’ either. Thee are more and more teenagers who are diagnosed despite being ‘thin’ (but often having abdominal fat).
So yes there is a big issue linked with the food with give to our children. And yes it does affect their health. Maybe not when they 5yo. But already it shows whe they are teenagers.
Besides, it’s also clear that if you want to see adults eating plenty of vegs, not spending their time eating biscuits, crops and sweets, then you need to teach said children that eating those foods isn’t good for you. It starts with saying NO.
Fwiw, retrospectively, I wish I had been stricter with my own dcs.
They are teens now and I have been much stricter than most parents already. But they’ve had fruit juice for breakfast (because it was considered then as part of your 5 a day and good for you. We now know that fruit juice is one of the biggest source of sugar in Children’s diet). They’ve had biscuits for afternoon snack. And sweets from relatives and parties.
My biggest success is to see them having learnt to eat a wide range of food and to be ‘difficult’ With mass processed/crap food. I still think they could have done with less sugar in their diet.
So is it possible to restrict as much as possible the sugar intake (incl biscuits) that children eat? Yes of course it is an so wo as much of an issue as most people seem to think.
Does it mean children are growing up to be craving those sweets etc? Actually no. They can also grow up totally balanced, enjoying so called healthy food (dc2 is a big fan of green salad) as well as the occasional treat.
The mistake imo is how ‘occasional’ is defined.
Occasional isn’t something you eat everyday. It’s something you eat on speacil occasions such as birthdays etc...
Small quantities (esp with sugar) isn’t 5+ biscuits, a packet of crisps, so called healthy cereal for breakfast and a packet of raisins. That would take way way over the recommended allowance for sugar in the day. Small quantities is maybe porridge for breakfast with a bit of sugar/honey/golden syrup. And no biscuits or raisins but fresh fruits or toast with butter (not jam).
Because sugar is already in so many products that we don’t even realise we are eating some (just look at the labels on food).