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Snacking and the better alternatives

Organic candy

The good news: we are completely innocent! Our passion for snacking is awakened even before we were born. "First taste experiences are already made in the womb. The composition of the amniotic fluid changes depending on the diet of the mother and environmental exposures. The amniotic fluid contains not only nutrients but also taste and odor molecules that stimulate the fetal taste sensory cells, "says Petra Rust of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Vienna - and knows to prove this: For example, in newborns whose mothers were aniseed during pregnancy Positive reactions to aniseed odor were seen directly and on the fourth day after birth, while facial expressions of rejection were often seen in newborns whose mothers did not take aniseed products.
And besides, we are all sweet - from birth. Rust: "Clinical observations of different fetal feeding patterns by injecting sweet or bitter substances into the amniotic fluid showed a preference for sweetness and an aversion to bitter substances. These observations give a vague indication of taste preferences, as fetal responses can only be measured to a limited extent. "

"In nature, sweet substances are associated as a good source of energy, whereas bitter substances are associated with toxicity."
Petra Rust from the Department of Nutrition, University of Vienna

 

The nutritionist's explanation: The innate sweet preference may have evolved to ensure the acceptance of appropriate foods for nutrition, especially breast milk. In nature, sweet substances are associated as a good source of energy, whereas bitter substances are associated with toxicity.
Nibbler friends are by the way laggards: The ability to taste salt is only around the fourth month of life. From this age, preference can be given to salty solutions as compared to water.

Genetic predisposition to sweet

The passion for sweets, however, does not apply to everyone to the same extent. Petra Rust on the scientific background: "Genetic variation leads to individual taste perceptions. People show a genetic predisposition to favoring sweet taste. Sweet taste perception in humans is mediated by heterodimer G protein-coupled receptors encoded by the TAS1R2 and TAS1R3. Single deviations in the nucleotide sequence may lead to a variation in sweetness sensitivity. "

Bad: a lot of fat, a lot of salt

The taste certainly influences the choice of food significantly, with the sweetness of the food is the biggest factor that determines what particular children want to eat. But what is it - apart from sugar - so bad at snacking? Nutritionist Rust also provides information on this: "In addition to sugar, sweets usually contain too much low-quality fat and therefore energy, and salty, of course, too much salt. The consumption of such products is usually unconsciously incidentally. The combination with television or computer games - that is, too little physical activity - require an energy balance, which promotes overweight and obesity. "
The recommendation: sweets are therefore not optimal snacks. After all, especially children like sweets but very much, now and then full sweet main courses or fruity desserts could be incorporated into the diet.

Healthy alternatives

There's no question that healthy alternatives to snacking are not lacking. "Fruits and vegetables are suitable, as well as dried fruits, nuts, low-fat, unsweetened or low-sweetened dairy products. Fruits and vegetables must be attractively designed - for example, child-friendly pieces or special shapes such as a wheel mouse or cucumber snake. When it comes to nuts and dried fruits, attention must be paid to the portion size, as these are relatively energy-rich, "recommends Rust. In addition, there are numerous products such as fruit bars, which are already finished in the supermarket. However, also applies here: first check whether they are really reasonably healthy, or just pretend.

Ecological & social alternatives

Snacking, however, also has global significance. Even with sweets, nibbles and snack alternatives deliberate consumption is announced. If you do not care about high sugar or fat content, you should at least have access to ecological and social alternatives. They are long been offered, the sweets whose ingredients come primarily from organic agriculture and thus make a contribution to environmental protection. What should be respected: regional, organic, fair trade and animal welfare.

Conscious snacking

Regional
From an ecological point of view, it makes no sense to transport products over long distances. Therefore, pay special attention to the origin of the respective products, including fruits and vegetables. This helps to avoid CO2 emissions from transports.

Biography
If so, then organic. This not only applies to fruits and vegetables, but also to many other products that are now available in organic version. The offer, even in conventional supermarkets, is growing rapidly: Chips are already being cut from organic potatoes from Austria, baked in sunflower oil in a kettle and made without artificial additives - vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose-free.

Fairtrade
For products and raw materials from poorer countries, it is necessary to put a stop to exploitive practices. In particular, Fairtrade is campaigning for fairer wages and fair working conditions.

Animal welfare & vegan
Especially vegan living consumers, but also animal rights activists pay attention to corresponding labels like the vegan flower. This guarantees in any case that no animals had to suffer.

Packaging
For some quality labels, very specific packaging requirements are made. For example, certain materials may be prohibited for packaging, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons or aluminum.

 

A special part of snacking, of course, is chocolate. The most important ingredient besides sugar is cocoa, which is grown only in far, poorer countries. Exploitative practices should not be supported. "In cocoa production, long working hours and heavy physical activities instead of schooling are part of the everyday lives of the children who often work there as slaves," says Gerhard Riess from the PRO-GE production union. Fairtrade is committed to fair trade relations and fair working conditions for the weakest in the value chain. Hartwig Kirner, Managing Director of Fairtrade Austria: "By buying fair-trade chocolate, consumers support the prohibition of exploitative child labor and the implementation of fair working conditions!"

Tips: children & snacking

In a balanced diet, a maximum of ten percent of the daily energy intake from sweets and snacks can be tolerated. For 4- to 6-year-old children the maximum 150 kcal is daily. The less sweet, the more space there is for nutritious food.

Strategies for modest handling of sweets, recommended by the German Initiative for Healthy Eating:

Set a ration with your child for two days to a week. During this period, the child decides how to divide his supply.

Just arrange with your child to go to the "Sweet Dose" together.
Make a certain time for the snacking, z. After eating.

Deliberately prepare desserts or a sweet snack in the afternoon. To eat sweets before or instead of a meal is taboo.

Prevent snacking with regular meals.

Lemonades and soft drinks are the exception.

If you buy only a few sweets, make sure you have attractive alternatives.

Agree on a little thing before you buy so that your child knows that it can be done even without a whine
Candy gets.

Avoid sentences like "First the vegetables, then there is something sweet", because
this increases the significance of the candy.

Use natural sweetness

The taste for the sweet taste is innate. How sweet a food is felt, however, depends solely on the experience. Accustom your child to moderately sweetened foods. To lower the sweetness threshold, you can, for example, when preparing cakes and desserts, reduce the amount of sugar given. With naturally sweet foods such as fresh or dried fruits or dairy products with pureed fruits, the need for sweets can often be satisfied. They also provide a range of valuable ingredients such as vitamins and minerals.

Alternative sweeteners

Sweeteners such as honey, syrups or whole cane sugar offer no advantages over conventional table sugar. Also sweeteners offer no substitute. They contain no or only a few calories, but, just like sugar, they help to get used to the sweet taste.

Recognize "hidden" sugar

How much sugar is contained in food, reveals a look at the list of ingredients. The further up the sugar is listed, the more is included. He hides behind some less common terms - as the following list shows:
Sucrose = crystal / table sugar
Glucose = glucose
Glucose syrup = glucose and water
Dextrose = glucose
Invert sugar = grape and fructose
Maltose = malt sugar
Fructose = fructose
Lactose = lactose

Written by Helmut Melzer

As a long-time journalist, I asked myself what would actually make sense from a journalistic point of view. You can see my answer here: Option. Showing alternatives in an idealistic way - for positive developments in our society.
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