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Fruit and vegetables

These are packed with vitamins and minerals and ‘phytochemicals’, which help to keep the immune system strong and protect against everyday illnesses. To ensure your family gets a wide variety of these nutrients, try to include as many different coloured fruits and vegetables as you can.

Both adults and children should aim for at least five portions a day. Fresh, frozen, tinned and dried fruit and vegetables and 100 per cent juice, all count. An adult-size portion could be three heaped tablespoons of cooked carrots, peas or sweetcorn, a mediumsized apple, pear or banana, three heaped tablespoons of canned fruit salad, a fruity cereal or snack bar, a few dried apricots or a tablespoon of dried fruit such as raisins. Child-size portions should be slightly smaller.

Easy ways to eat more fruit and vegetables

• Start the day with a glass of fruit juice at breakfast or top cereals with chopped fresh or dried fruit.

• Serve crunchy vegetable sticks as a snack with favourite dips.

• Stir a handful of frozen peas or mixed vegetables into soups and casseroles before serving.

• Purée vegetables into sauces or blend with a little stock and milk to make nutritious soups.

• Make a pot of ‘trail mix’ from dried fruit, nuts and seeds to lunch boxes and for sprinkling over yoghurts and desserts.

Calcium and iron-rich foods

Vitamins and minerals are complex substances needed by the body for a whole range of processes. All are important, but of particular note to families with young children are the minerals iron and calcium. Iron, often lacking in children’s diets, is needed for both mental and physical development and to make haemoglobin, which transports oxygen around the body. Iron is especially important for girls who need to build up supplies as they approach puberty. Make sure that your child has at least one iron-rich food every day.

Calcium is vital for building strong healthy bones and teeth. It also acts as a ‘bone bank’, helping to build up bone density from an early age to reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life. Vitamin D is vital for the absorption and utilisation of calcium. As this vitamin isn’t well absorbed from food, the best way to get adequate supplies is to spend a few minutes outside everyday, especially on sunny days, but avoid staying out for long in the middle of the day, when the sun is at its hottest.

Omega 6 and omega 3

Although we tend to think of all fats as being ‘bad’, some actually play a protective role in the diet and two in particular are vital: the essential fatty acids (EFAs) known as omega 6 and omega 3. Omega 6 EFAs are involved in the production of prostaglandin, a hormonelike substance needed for healthy cell membranes which has a therapeutic effect on skin problems and allergies. They are found in many oils including sunflower and safflower, soft polyunsaturated margarine, seeds and nuts. Omega 3 EFAs are also found in these oils but additionally include vital substances which come almost solely from fish oils. Vegetarians may get small amounts from flax and pumpkin seeds and leafy green vegetables, although recent evidence suggests that the type of fatty acids found in vegetable sources may not have the same benefits as those in fish. Omega 3 EFAs help to support healthy brain development and there is evidence that they may influence a child’s ability to learn and concentrate. Scientists are still studying whether omega 3 can help with conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other mental illnesses such as depression. Try to make sure that the whole family eats oily fish such as salmon, tuna or sardines at least once a week. If someone in your family doesn’t like fish, there are plenty of polyunsaturated spreads and yoghurt drinks enriched with omega 6 and omega 3.

Sugar

Most of us enjoy sugary foods and eating them occasionally causes no real harm. When children grow older, outside influences will make themselves felt and you will no longer have complete control over what is eaten. In fact, a staggering 80 per cent of children eat more added sugars than the maximum level recommended for adults. But while sugars occur naturally in foods such as milk and fruit, it’s the food containing added sugar that you should try to reduce in your family’s diet, including sweets, cookies, cakes and pastries, fizzy and juice drinks. Not only do they contribute to tooth decay, high-sugar foods raise blood sugar levels quickly, causing peaks and troughs of energy. A sugary snack may give you instant energy, but this will be followed by a dip and these fluctuations in blood sugar levels cause mood swings and affect attentiveness. When checking food labels, watch out for other words for sugar, including sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, corn syrup, hydrolysed starch and invert sugar.

Ways to cut down on sugar

• Eat fewer sugary sweets and snacks. If your children can’t avoid the sweet shop, encourage better choices such as a small bar of chocolate.

• Instead of sugary juice drinks and canned fizzy drinks such as cola and lemonade, go for unsweetened fruit juice, preferably diluted with water. For a fizzy drink treat, try mixing fruit juice with carbonated water.

• Instead of reaching for the biscuit tin, try serving a brioche roll with a little good-quality jam, crunchy breadsticks or a toasted currant bun.

• Leave the sugar bowl off the breakfast table; sprinkling sugar on cereals should be avoided, as should sugar- and honey-coated kids’ cereals.

• Instead of sugary yoghurts, mousses and trifles, offer plain ‘bio’ or Greek yoghurt with sliced fresh fruit or fruit purée.

Saturated and hydrogenated fats

While adults should aspire to eat a high-fibre, low-fat diet, this isn’t ideal for children. They need a greater intake of fat than adults as it is a concentrated source of energy. Fat also helps the absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K, as well as calcium. It is, however, important to limit the amount of saturated fats as these raise the type of cholesterol in the blood that increases the risk of coronary heart disease – there is growing evidence that this starts in childhood. From the age of five, children can gradually start to include reduced-fat foods in their diet, such as semi-skimmed/low-fat milk. Hydrogenation is a process by which liquid oil is turned into solid fat. During the process, trans fats may be formed, which are thought to be more harmful than saturated fats. Always check labels and avoid foods containing hydrogenated fat or hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Ways to cut back on undesirable fats

• Limit foods containing high amounts of saturated fats such as butter, cream and foods made with them, including cakes, pastries and cookies.

• Cut down on ‘visible’ fats such as butter on bread, cream on desserts and always trim fat from meats such as chops and bacon.

• Choose margarines and spreads that contain little or no hydrogenated or saturated fats.

• Avoid fast food takeaways as these are usually fried in partially hydrogenated oil.

• Swap fatty snacks for healthy ones some of the time – for example, breadsticks instead of crisps or a slice of wholemeal toast with jam instead of biscuits or a sweet pastry.

Salt

Salt is made up of two components – sodium and chloride. It is sodium which leads to health problems; in excess, it can cause high blood pressure (hypertension), increasing the chances of heart attacks and strokes. It is also linked to an increased risk of osteoporosis and has been shown to aggravate asthma. People who eat too much salt when young often develop a taste for salty food and will be more likely to continue to eat too much salt when older. Most adults and children eat more than double the recommended daily maximum amount of salt. Children should have considerably less salt than adults. While obvious solutions include reducing the amount of salt used in cooking and not having extra salt on the table, about three-quarters of the salt we eat is already in the foods we buy. Many processed foods are high in salt and it’s not always the obvious ones. Shop-bought bread, cakes and pastries, baked beans and sauces contain a surprising amount.

Some manufacturers have reduced the amount of salt in their products, so it’s worth checking carefully when shopping. Most foods are labelled with the amount of sodium (rather than salt) they contain. If you want to compare a product labelled with its salt rather than sodium content, it’s worth knowing that there’s about 2.5 g of sodium in every 6 g of salt. Other types of sodium are used as preservatives or flavour enhancers, such as monosodium glutamate, often added to processed meats, snacks and soups.

Ways to cut down on salt

• Eat fewer salty foods including salted nuts, bacon, smoked fish and pickles. Don’t add a bag of crisps to your lunchbox every day; go for low-salt snacks such as unsalted nuts and home-made popcorn.

• Be sparing with sauces, especially bottled and packet sauces, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sauce and tomato ketchup. If you use these when cooking, reduce or omit additional salt.

• Make your own stock or choose lower-salt stock cubes and use herbs and spices to add flavour to cooking.

• Choose tinned vegetables and pulses without added salt.

• Compare labels to help you choose those with less added salt. Similar products often vary considerably in the amount of sodium they contain.

• Ask for unsalted fries and chips when eating out in restaurants or buying takeaways and make them an occasional treat only.

• Replace processed meats such as burgers and sausages with home-made versions.

• Do not use salt at the table. Always taste your food before automatically adding extra salt and encourage your children to do the same.

Dealing with food allergies

Allergies and intolerances to certain foods vary in severity. They are actually two very different problems, yet the symptoms are similar. An allergy is an inappropriate response by the body’s immune system to what should be a harmless food, whereas food intolerance is the inability to digest certain foods. If you or your child frequently has one or more of the following symptoms after eating, you should consult your doctor:

• Nausea, abdominal pain, bloating, vomiting or diarrhoea.

• Swelling of the face, mouth or tongue.

• Wheeziness, streaming eyes and sneezing.

• Blotchy rashes, particularly on the face.

• Foods that can bring on allergies include nuts, seeds, fish and shellfish, egg white, berries and citrus fruit. Nuts (especially peanuts and brazils) are the most common of these and some schools ban these from all packed lunches to protect those children who may react even if they are only in the vicinity of nuts. Children under the age of three with a family history of allergy should not be given nuts in any form. Some children may have a severe (anaphylactic) reaction to certain foods, manifesting itself as difficulty with breathing, a very fast pulse rate and bluish skin or lips. In these cases immediate hospital treatment should be sought.

Food intolerances may be present at birth or may develop later in life. Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest the sugars in cow’s milk. If you or your child suffers from this it will be necessary to follow a dairy-free diet in which soya or low-lactose milk products are used instead. Avoid foods labelled as containing milk, butter, margarine, cheese, yoghurt, cream, whey, casein/caseinates and lactose. If avoiding dairy products you will need to ensure an adequate intake of calcium and vitamins A and D.

Coeliac disease is a sensitivity to gluten, a protein found in cereals, including wheat, rye, barley and oats (it is also possible to have an intolerance just to wheat). More common in girls than boys, it often runs in families and can start at any age. It affects about one person in 130. There are many gluten-free products available, including breads and pasta.