5-a-day not the way to make toddlers healthy

1:50pm Friday 18th April 2008

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Don't give under-fives too much fruit and vegetables or their growth could be stunted. That is the view of food expert Sarah Almond. Sam Underwood reports.

"Eat your greens" has been the standard nutritional advice from parents for decades.

But could these so-called superfoods actually be doing children harm?

Yes, according to the Nippers' Nutrition study carried out by leading expert Sarah Almond, a paediatric dietician and guest lecturer on child health at the University of Brighton.

Asked to look into the nutritional needs of underfives by East Sussex Trading Standards, she set about investigating the food on offer in nursery schools.

Her results were startling and proved that too much of a good thing can be bad for you.

Looking closely at what foods the ten nurseries which agreed to take part in the survey were serving, she found that in trying to offer super-healthy food, the nurseries were actually not providing enough nutrition.

Unlike school meals, Government regulations do not cover the food eaten by toddlers.

Only 30% were providing meals with a high enough calorific value and some were doing more harm than good by serving what they believed to be healthy snacks.

She said: "At this time in their lives, young children have far higher nutritional requirements compared with their size than at any other time.

"They just need small quantities of very nutritionally- dense foods in order to grow."

Ms Almond found that eating too much fruit and vegetables can lead to vitamin deficiencies for young children and stunt their growth because they are not nourished enough.

She said: "We were very surprised because we were expecting the nurseries to serve foods which were high in calories and fat that would be unhealthy but we actually found that they were serving foods with too little nutrition.

"It was these foods, which were too low in calories, fat and saturated fat which were unhealthy."

As well as providing nutritionally-balanced meals, Ms Almond advocated serving young children nourishing snacks instead of ones that are healthy for adults.

So cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks should be replaced with hot cross buns, crumpets and biscuits.

She said eating too much fibre-rich fruit and vegetables could stop children's bodies from absorbing other key nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.

She also said fibre filled children up quickly and could stop them from taking in enough calories to grow.

Ms Almond put her findings together in a booklet which trading standards has forwarded to nurseries.

It gives advice about how to prepare balanced meals for the children to meet their nutritional needs and help ensure they grow up healthy and strong.

Brian Johnson, head of trading standards, welcomed the study and its findings.

He said: "We were surprised by the findings.

"We assumed that everything was going to be OK but wanted to look in detail at nutrition for under-fives as there are no regulations around to cover them.

"The most surprising finding was the fact that applying older children's nutritional requirements to younger children was incorrect."

The report's results have been sent to various agencies including the Foods Standards Agency and the Office for Standards in Education and have been circulated to nutritionists and nurseries around the world via the internet.

Mr Johnson said: "We can now talk to the nurseries with some confidence based on Sarah's findings because we have scientific findings to base our advice on."

A graduate from Leeds Metropolitan University's nutrition and dietetics degree course, Ms Almond has studied at the Royal London Hospital in East London.

Her current studies include research for her PhD in nutrition for children with severe disabilities.

She said: "The main thing to know is that children have very specific nutritional needs.

"You can't treat them as mini adults."

For more information on her recommendations for childhood nutrition, visit www.childrensnutrition.co.uk.