eMJA: Nutrition and physical activity for Australian children

2. Should snacking be encouraged in children?

Med J Aust 2000; 173 Suppl 7 August: S5-S6

Children need regular meals and snacks (at least 5-6 times per day). The limited capacity of young children means they cannot meet their energy needs for growth and activity in three meals only. For older children, snacks are estimated to provide a half to a third of their energy intake. It is therefore important that the snacks offered contribute nutrients in proportion to energy contribution.

The Australian National Nutrition Survey (NNS) indicated that 33% of energy for 2-7-year-olds was derived from snack items (such as cakes, pastries, crisps and sweet drinks), as opposed to basic or core foods (such as bread and cereals, fruit and vegetables, dairy products).¹ It also found that 30% of 2-7-year-olds ate no fruit, and a similar proportion ate no vegetables, on the day of the survey. In a Victorian study, 88% of parents provided playlunch to 5-8-year-old children.⁶ While parents stated fresh fruit was the commonest food offered (followed by chips, muesli bars and rollups, and biscuits), teachers reported they rarely saw fresh fruit being eaten, and reported chips as the commonest item. A New South Wales study indicated that, of the 90% of children who had a snack at recess, 39% had chips.⁷

Regular snacks prevent extreme hunger, and hopefully reduce the likelihood of children responding by eating large amounts of any available, and often unsuitable, food.⁸ Some research in adults indicates possible metabolic advantages of snacking, in that a similar intake spread over more episodes of eating results in lower levels of circulating insulin and serum cholesterol.⁹ In young men, snacks containing food energy improved performance (attention and recall) relative to very low energy snacks. In the same study arithmetic problem-solving was improved when a nutrient-rich snack (flavoured yoghurt) was eaten compared with a confectionery snack.¹⁰ A Scottish study in primary school aged children, which compared children who derived low and high proportions of their energy from snacks (average 26%), failed to show a difference in total energy or nutrient intake, or in anthropometry, between the two groups.¹¹

A 1997 Victorian study linked television viewing for more than 10 hours a week with the likelihood of a child's being overweight, and more than 20 hours of viewing with an increased likelihood that a child will be obese (Kylie Hesketh, Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, personal communication). Similar links have been reported elsewhere,¹² while other studies have failed to establish this connection.¹³

The snack suggestions shown in Box 3 are aimed at helping to make healthy eating easier for parents and children.

Kay L Gibbons

3: Snack suggestions for children

Serve snacks at planned and regular times, and as a specific food event, especially after school (this helps to minimise the eating marathon from arrival to dinner). Follow the snack with the next activity, such as homework or physical exercise.
Limit the supply of, or avoid having, unsuitable foods in the house.
Choose snacks with fat content and fat type in mind - options with less saturated fat (icy pole over ice cream, pretzel over crisps, lower-fat cereal or fruit snacks and bars over biscuits).
Encourage children to understand "treat" as an occasional rather than an everyday item.
Make water a regular drink, with soft drink or juice as an occasional option.
Taste and interest are important factors in encouraging children to eat healthy snacks. Snacks that are popular with children include fresh fruit served chopped as a fruit platter to share, or skewered with a bowl of yoghurt as dip, and grain-based snacks such as bread with a variety of spreads, breakfast cereal and grain-based cereal bars.
Invest a little to make snacks enjoyable: a water filter and nice bottles, a popcorn maker, a blender for smoothies made with reduced fat milk.
Keep in mind the possible benefits of choosing a couple of serves a day of low glycaemic index (slow-release carbohydrate) foods for appetite and general health.¹⁴

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