It is time for T&T to set nutritional standards for food throughout school cafeterias. This is the belief of the Growing Leaders Foundation. "Giving children healthier options should be a requirement," stated the foundation. An additive is a substance added to foods during processing to improve colour, texture, flavour, or keeping qualities. Some examples are antioxidants, preservatives, and colorants. Currently, T&T has no specific regulations for food additives. In most schools in Trinidad, doughnuts, cookies, candy, soda, chips, preserved and highly coloured snacks compete with nutritious meals. British researchers found that when food additives were removed from the diet of a group of three-year-olds it caused a reduction in the their hyperactive behaviour reported by their parents. And when the food colourings and preservatives were added to the children's diets, parents reported an increase in hyperactivity.
Reducing behavioural problems
Researchers believe that removal of food additives from children's diets could help reduce their long-term risk of behavioural problems.
"All children had small shifts in their behaviour in the same direction when exposed to the additives," says John Warner, professor of child health at the University of Southampton. In another study, published in the June issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood, researchers looked at the behavioural effects of removing and then adding artificial food colourings and preservatives from the diets of 277 children living on the Isle of Wight in the UK. During the study, the children ate a strict diet free of food additives for one week.
In the following three weeks, the children drank a fruit juice drink supplemented with 20 mg of food colourings and 45 mg of sodium benzoate (a food preservative commonly used in fruit drinks and carbonated beverages) or a placebo fruit drink each day on alternate weeks in addition to the food additive-free diet. The study showed that the parents reported significantly more disruptive behaviour during the periods when the children drank the beverage containing additives, and there was a reduction in hyperactive behaviour once the child stopped drinking the beverage. In addition, Roseanne Schnoll, PhD, RD, associate professor of nutrition at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York said not getting the proper balance of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients can make children more susceptible to hyperactive behaviour and other problems.
The solution
In 2004:
�2 Chicago's public schools revamped what was offered in schools. Soft drinks were eliminated, and water and juice were offered instead.
�2 Granola bars and baked chips replaced candy bars and fried chips.
�2 42 state legislatures in the US enacted or proposed measures that required or recommend nutritional guidance for schools, said Carla Plaza of Health Policy Tracking Service.
In 2005:
�2 The American Beverage Association recommended eliminating soft drinks in elementary schools, severely restricting them in middle schools and requiring that they be only 50 per cent of the choices in high schools.
Healthier choices of snacks could include granola bars, dried fruit, beef jerky, nuts, cut-up fruit, shaker salads, crackers, water bottles, milk and fruit juice.
About the foundation
The Growing Leaders Foundation is a privately funded not-for-profit organisation. It is made up of Trinidad-born Generation X-ers who pursue greatness in life and work, locally and abroad, and who have banded together to create a legacy of leadership for our local youth. The Growing Leaders Foundation aims to have its eight to12-lesson leadership cirriculum–taught by trained business volunteers–in every single primary school by January 2011. Its focus age group is eight to 12 years old. You can learn more and become a part of the organisation by visiting it's webpage at growingleaders.info and/or it's Facebook page at "growing leaders."
