Sugar stays high on school menu

REBECCA WALSH talks to a dietician about what parents should be giving children for a healthy school lunch.

Too many school lunchboxes are still filled with prepackaged foods high in sugar and fat, a paediatric dietician says.

During a visit to Westmere School in Auckland, the Herald found most children had something healthy to eat but potato chips, muesli bars and flavoured drinks featured frequently.

Only three out of eight children had a piece of fresh fruit.

Fiona Smith, paediatric dietician for Community Child Health and Disability Services for the Auckland District Health Board, was not surprised.

"This is a very good representation of what you would see," she says. "The big things we know are that children take far too many treat foods in their lunchboxes and not enough fruit and vegetables."

Mrs Smith says snack foods such as potato chips and muesli bars should be classed as "treats" and included only once a week.

But she acknowledges there is a lot of pressure on parents to buy particular foods.

"I think a lot of it is television advertising and peer pressure ... everyone else has packaged things," she says.

"Unless a school makes a decision not to allow these sorts of things at school, kids hound parents and complain if it isn't there."

Another problem area is children who buy their lunch. Some do so every day, and school tuck shops vary considerably in how healthy they are.

Westmere School principal Peter Kerr says most children at the school have "pretty good lunches", but the school has problems with some children who spend their lunch money at the dairy on "the latest energy drink and maybe a choccie bar".

Other children come to school with no lunch.

"All children should have a lunch; without it they will have insufficient energy and won't learn as well," Mrs Smith says. "Lunches from home are a better choice and are cheaper. If kids are buying their lunch it should be only once a week."

Anna Lindroos, education setting manager for the National Heart Foundation, says that if parents encourage their children to make healthy choices from an early age, it is likely to carry into adult life.

The foundation has been working with schools for the past 12 years to develop healthy school food programmes.

Mrs Smith says parents need to watch for misleading advertising claiming products are healthy - check the fine print for fat content.

She recommends trying to get children to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and says there is no excuse for not including fruit in a New Zealand lunchbox.

"If people buy it in season, it's quite a cheap thing."

Give children some choice about what they would like out of the healthy options and limit the number of "treats" in the pantry.

Keeping hydrated is important and Mrs Smith says water is a better choice than cordial or fruit juice. It is not as hard on teeth and is a better thirst-quencher.

* Mrs Smith suggests parents choose from the following: carbohydrate, such as rice, noodles or pasta, at least one medium-sized piece of fruit and maybe some dried fruit as well, plain crackers and cheese, vegetable sticks, a plain scone and a bottle of water.

Looking into lunchboxes

The Herald visited Westmere School in Auckland and had a peek inside lunchboxes.

We then asked paediatric dietician Fiona Smith what she thought of what the kids were eating. Here's a sample of what we found.

* Lunch one: A peanut butter roll, three biscuits, a small packet of potato chips.

Comment: It's good to have something made from bread. "What would have made it a lot better would be if the chips were removed and fruit or vegetables added."

* Lunch two: Two small containers of Fresh-Up, a muesli bar, a packet of Grainwaves, a packet of raisins, ham sandwich.

Comment: Too many high-energy snack foods."They are what we class as treat foods and should be only offered now and again rather than every day. I would be encouraging water as a drink at school rather than fruit juice or cordial."

* Lunch 3: A jam roll, a small packet of potato chips, a muesli bar, an apple cut into quarters, a bottle of water.

Comment: Top marks for the fruit, bread and water bottle but again too many snack-type foods. "Some sort of protein like cheese would be good."

* Lunch 4: Marmite sandwiches made with brown bread, a hot cross bun, an apricot.

Comment: Top marks for the fruit and brown bread but it is a small lunch. "Some parents know if you put too much in children's lunch boxes they won't eat it. It may be she's a small eater and makes up for it at breakfast and afternoon tea."

nzherald.co.nz/health