How Junk Food Affects Children

child health and nutrition

Parent often wonder how junk food affects children

Millions of dollars are spent each year on very attractive advertising and fast-food packaging to entice and persuade families to choose certain fast food Restaurants. It’s convenient, generally cheap and easily accessible.  Fast food chains ensure that their restaurants provide a quick and easy meal for all the family… And there is no cooking or preparation involved. But many are nor aware of how junk food affects children.

THE FAST-FOOD INDUSTRY

Fast food restaurants are often the place of choice after a game of physical activity, to unwind with friends but these outlets have very limited healthy food for a child to eat.

Fast food chains make their food packaging very attractive to children. Packaging often includes many “must have” collectable toys, enticing children to come back and collect the whole toy series.

HOW CHILDREN DEVELOP FOOD PREFERENCES

FOOD PREFERENCES ARE DEVELOPED IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

When babies and young toddlers are first introduced to solid food, they often prefer some foods over others. However, when they are very young, it’s essential that they are introduced to good healthy foods gradually, Their diet should have lots of variety, to include all the vitamins and minerals growing children need for a healthy diet.

These food preferences are developed in early childhood and directly influence their future eating habits. If a child is exposed to unhealthy foods… foods with high levels of saturated fats, such as French fries, along with drinks and juices with added sugars, at an early age, this can be closely linked to a child’s health and wellbeing in the future. 

If children are presented with a choice of healthier foods such as vegetables as opposed to convenient chicken nuggets, French fries and drinks with added sugars, children will mostly lean towards the fast food options.

Once they are introduced to attractively presented fast food such as chicken nuggets, Burger King hamburgers and French fries (all high in salt) and drinks with lots of added sugars, children may become quite addicted to unhealthy food because these foods are both sweet and salty.

HOW JUNK FOOD AFFECTS CHILDREN

Children need a balanced diet of healthy foods, full of good nutrition

HOW DOES EATING REGULAR FAST FOOD IMPACT CHILD HEALTH?

Healthier foods with essential vitamins and minerals are the best choices for a child to eat. Natural healthy foods have no added sodium or sugars.  

However, when children eat fast food on a regular basis, they acquire a taste and preference for foods high in salt and added sugars and these often become the food of choice.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF JUNK FOOD

When children and teenagers overdose on fast foods, their desire towards healthy food choices is somewhat negative and this makes it harder to develop healthy eating habits and maintain a balanced diet.

Regular junk food (eaten more than 2 to 5 times per week) can negatively impact a child’s health and lead to serious long term health problems. One single meal of junk food may contain the total allowance of calories for one day… or more for a growing teenagers or young children.

Effects of Junk Food on Child Development

1          Learning Difficulties

Eating unhealthy food that lacks nutrition, on a regular basis, can stunt a young child’s scholastic learning ability and affect concentration levels when performing alongside other children of the same age.

Junk food lacks essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, fibre and probiotics that are essential for proper brain function.  Deficiency in such nutrients can lead to an inability to concentrate and absorb information clearly.  This causes a reduction in alertness and lowers the capacity to learn new skills. 

2          Increase in Dental Decay

Lack of essential nutrients can lead to abnormal bone growth as well as early dental problems.

Unhealthy saturated fats plus high levels of salt, added sugars, preservatives and the lack of the essential vitamins and minerals can lead to obesity as well as dental decay. 

3          Physical Development Effects

Obesity in children is increasing at alarming rates and this can curb their ability to be active and participate with their peers.  Obesity in growing children can lead to abnormal weight and balance issues and this leads to deformed bone structure.  This can affect their ability to participate freely in active physical activity, which can further lead to self-esteem and emotional problems.

4          Lack of Focus and Energy Levels

Overindulging in junk food can create an addiction for the taste of fast food and this leads to children craving fast food on a regular basis.  Children on a regular diet of junk food can suffer from fatigue and low energy levels.

5          Increased Risk of Depression

Poor eating can result in food habits such as sugar cravings, with high calorie foods giving a spike in blood sugars. This can lead to poor concentration and huge sugar crash swings, and difficulty staying focused and alert.

These sudden spikes can result in increases in depression, lower self-esteem levels, increased rates of hyperactivity and could ultimately lead to mood swings and less ability to accomplish required tasks.

6          Long Term Health Issues

Childhood food habits invariably become adulthood habits   When children eat fast food on a regular basis (more than several times a week) it can cause long term deficiencies in a child’s health and nutrition. This is because junk food lacks important nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, protein, healthy fats and carbs that growing children need.  Fast food greatly impacts on their cognitive development, physical abilities and fitness levels, as well as their overall health and wellbeing.

Eating larger portion sizes and unhealthy fast food can lead to many health issues. High salt levels can lead to increased blood pressure and may even result in early kidney disease.

7          Reduced Academic Achievement

The highs and lows of overloading on sugar drinks and foods can dramatically affect a child’s or teenager’s scholastic abilities and overall academic performance.  This in turn has the potential to impact on their social relationships with their peers from a young age, and into the future.

8          Digestive Issues

Eating unhealthy foods, lacking in vital nutrients, can lead to early child health issues such as constipation and bowel problems.

Eating junk food can develop into an addiction and affect a child’s desire for much healthier foods. This can lead to constipation problems as fast food invariably lacks fruits and vegetables, fibre, and dairy products and this can lead to many medical problems.

9          Lower Immune System Levels

A fast food, high sugar diet negatively impacts the gut, increases childhood obesity and can lead to high cholesterol levels. The devastating effects of uncontrolled overeating of junk food can greatly affect the immune system and lead to long term medical problems.

10        Sleep Problems

Poor nutrition can lead to disturbed sleep patterns and consequently affects children’s health and wellbeing in the long term.


Growing children require heathy foods, slowly introduced, from all the food groups.

What is the solution to overcoming junk food cravings?

Read more about how to break the cycle of unhealthy eating…


How to break unhealthy eating habits in children

heathy eating

Processed food is one of the worst offenders when it comes to unhealthy food.

Most unhealthy fast food includes processed meat, unhealthy cheese, and foods with bad fats.

 

fast food

So, if you want to feed your kids healthy meals, food for kids needs to be free of snack junk food and should not include processed sugar.  Also, when preparing a snack for toddlers, especially exclude ultra-processed sugar and foods with refined carbs.

HEALTHY FOOD VS JUNK FOOD

child health and nutrition

What is an UNHEALTHY DIET?

There is much confusion around what constitutes an unhealthy diet.

Commonly asked questions are…

  • What’s the difference between healthy and unhealthy food?
  • Why is saturated fat bad for you?
  • What are unhealthy fats?

Children need to be taught the difference between unhealthy snacks and healthy snacks, as most snack junk food contains far too much processed sugar, sodium and unhealthy additives that are not good food for kids to eat.

Unhealthy food contains higher levels of unhealthy fats and can be harmful to a child’s health and wellbeing.

To avoid children eating last minute junk food meals, pre-packaged processed food and all the other unhealthy food children desire, following a simple ten step plan will help kids to overcome their unhealthy diet.

Follow these 10 successful strategies for overcoming a child’s unhealthy diet and develop healthy eating habits …..

heathy eating

10 TIPS TO HELP YOUR CHILD AVOID EATING UNHEALTHY FOOD

1 Plan meals ahead of time. Grill, poach, steam or slow-cook foods.  You can cook a pot roast or light the BBQ. There are so many different ways to cook kids healthy meals and replace an unhealthy diet with a very healthy diet.

2 Create a regular well planned shopping list to overcome last minute unhealthy food buying. Always provide kids healthy snacks.

3 Give kids healthy meals using lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, spices, garlic, ginger, turmeric… adding plenty of salad greens, legumes, cauliflower, broccoli, whole grain foods, nuts and seeds… always avoiding foods with unhealthy fats and all processed food.

4 Delight your child’s taste buds by presenting them with varied colorful fruit and vegie platters, replacing the usual unhealthy food snacks with healthy snacks. This can be a great snack for toddlers as well.

5 Educate children on how to read food labels, looking to avoid any food products that may have unhealthy food additives such as added high levels of sugar and sodium, that are not healthy foods for kids.

6 Children need to replenish their energy levels throughout the day so provide your kids healthy snacks.

7 Add probiotic food to your child’s diet. To overcome an unhealthy diet, probiotic foods feed the gut with good bacteria to help fight off disease.  Natural Greek style yoghurt plus fermented foods such as Sauerkraut mix well with fruits and vegies.

8 Teach your child to cook at an early age so they can learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy food. They may experiment with different foods and create their own favourite “kids healthy meals” that all the family can also enjoy.

9 Replace unhealthy fats with healthy fats such as avocados, healthy nuts, extra virgin olive oil, plus oily fish such as sardines, salmon and tuna as these are essential food for kids to eat on a regular basis.

10 Kids’ healthy meals should always include adequate protein, such as fish, chicken, red meat, eggs, milk, cheese and legumes. Protein helps provide cell growth in children as well as maintaining healthy bones, muscles, hair and skin while fighting off diseases.

Other important tips for active kids…

1 Exercise is important to help children stay physically fit and healthy.

2 Children need to drink adequate water to stay hydrated and it’s vital for growing bodies to stay healthy for physical activity and concentration. Therefore, it’s important to avoid any processed sugar drinks and replace with adequate cool water to stay hydrated.

3 Providing healthy kids snacks includes making your own smoothies, using lots of fresh fruits and vegies, plus natural yoghurt. Healthy smoothies with probiotics are a great food for kids to enjoy.

5 Kids need adequate amounts of sleep to perform all the tasks required for growing children to stay fit and active.

Read more about Healthy Food

Read more about breaking kids’ bad food habits