By Margaret Nicklas for Start Smart with HealthStart
We have all heard that fatty foods can be bad for our health, especially when the fat comes from animal sources like meat and milk. But how does this play out when it comes to keeping your child’s diet healthy? And what if lowering the fat content in what children eat means they consume more sugar?
I first thought about this one day when my son balked at eating the vanilla yogurt I had brought home from the store because it was low fat – not the fat free type I usually purchased. Incredulous, I tried it and noticed that it did taste different – creamier and a bit blander – but certainly not bad. That’s when I wondered whether I was doing my child more harm than good by feeding him low and nonfat dairy products that might also be encouraging his already fierce sweet tooth.
Some light reading on the subject did not help dispel these thoughts. For instance, a recent article in The Huffington Post chided many popular low or non-fat yogurt products for having more sugar than a Twinkie ®. And while we would likely agree that yogurt is still a healthier breakfast choice than oblong, crème-filled cakes, it is important to understand that it can add a significant amount of sugar to any diet. Further, as the chart below illustrates, food companies generally do add sugar when they take away fat.
Source: Values obtained from company websites or actual yogurt containers. Analysis performed by the author.
For more perspective on how to make good dairy choices for children, I contacted Dr. Stephen Pont, the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity’s medical director. He and his colleague Lauren Brauer, the Center’s lead registered dietitian, shared some of the organization’s practices.
In general, Pont’s patients are encouraged to choose nutrient-dense foods and cut back on foods high in fat or sugar, but “almost nothing is forbidden,” he stated in an email. “For our patients, we promote moderation and empower them to make more healthy choices.”
According to Pont, the Center recommends that most children consume 2-3 cups of low fat, unflavored milk per day depending on the age of the child. Following this advice helps ensure children get adequate calcium and vitamin D, while avoiding the added sugar present in flavored milk. And it’s not just the Center’s patients who benefit from these guidelines. Pont explained that the rules are same in his own home. “We include our kids in the process of making healthy choices, and while my youngest would love to always drink chocolate milk, he is also perfectly content to drink white milk most all of the time.”
The Center recommends that children drink regular whole milk before age 2. That’s because very young children need fat for brain development and they use energy at a higher rate than older people, Brauer noted in written comments she provided. Lower fat milk products are preferred for older children because milk contains saturated fat – a type of fat that promotes the build up of harmful deposits in arteries over time.
Brauer also stated she recommends plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt for most patients – because it contains less added sugar than other types. Plain yogurt has about 16 grams of naturally occurring lactose sugar per cup. Flavored yogurts can have double that much or more due to added sugar.
People are genetically wired to prefer sweet foods, Brauer explained, so the Center recommends that parents try to introduce non-sweet foods to babies first (like vegetables before fruits) and to limit sweet foods for very young children. But she discourages the use of foods containing artificial sweeteners for very young children because long-term research regarding their use in children is lacking and there is some research that these may actually increase cravings for sweet food.
So, when it comes to choosing low fat versus lower sugar, it seems that finding the right balance is key. A lot depends on the role dairy plays in your child’s diet and how the sugar and fat content stacks up against the other foods your child frequently eats. And of course, a healthy dose of common sense is needed. Which makes me think – we’ve done pretty well in the options we have offered our son regarding milk and yogurt – but I probably should have been paying more attention to all that Blue Bell ice cream!
Margaret Nicklas is a freelance health writer and journalist. Find her on Facebook or connect with her on Twitter @MargaretNicklas.
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