How much sugar is too much for kids? A guide every parent needs

One of the reasons that humans have grown to love sugar is because it’s essential for the proper functioning of our body (especially our big brains). Sugar is a form of carbohydrate, and our body breaks it down into glucose. Glucose can then enter the bloodstream and provide energy for the brain, central nervous system, and red blood cells.

Sugar can come from multiple places.

• Sucrose is essentially your common table sugar.
• Lactose and galactose are forms of sugar found in milk.
• Fructose is sugar that’s commonly found in fruits.

Sugar you’re eating could have a big impact on whether your body can successfully break down that sugar.

When you look at the nutrition label on food, you’ll see two rows for sugar. One is for total sugar. The other is for added sugar. That’s the number you really want to pay attention to. Added sugar is any sugar added to food–either in the cooking process or the manufacturing process. Whether it’s the chef adding sugar in the kitchen or the manufacturer adding sugar in the factory, it’s still added sugar. This is the kind of sugar you’ll want to watch carefully.

Almost half of all sugar intake is via beverages. Take a close look at your kid’s fruit juice–and examine the added sugar content. Too many added sugars–especially over a long duration ultimately leads to long term health issues such as diabetes or obesity.

Too much sugar can impact children's brains by impairing their cognitive abilities. When a child consumes excessive sugar, it can impact the hippocampus, the brain's part responsible for memory formation and learning, making it harder for them to retain information and perform movements.

In overweight and obese children and adolescents, the reduction of free sugar is a vital part of decreasing energy intake which is essential for weight reduction.

Sugar substitutes have both advantages and disadvantages when introduced into our diets. Interestingly, they have been hard to study because each of these substitutes whether they are synthetic (saccharides) or natural (stevia) are metabolized in different ways, so it has been hard to compare “apples to apples” in most clinical trials. In general, the more we avoid synthetic substances, the healthier we are

The government recommends that free sugars – sugars added to food or drinks, and sugars found naturally in honey, syrups, and unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies and purées – should not make up more than 5% of the energy (calories) you get from food and drink each day.

• Children aged 7 to 10 should have no more than 24g of free sugars a day (6 sugar cubes).
• Children aged 4 to 6 should have no more than 19g of free sugars a day (5 sugar cubes).
• Children aged 2 to 3 should have no more than 14g of free sugars a day (3 and a half sugar cubes).
• Children aged 1 should have no more than 10g of free sugars a day (2 and a half sugar cubes)

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) currently recommends that children 2-18 years of age have a maximum of 6 teaspoons, or 25 grams of sugar per day.

Sugars should not be added to food or drinks given to babies below 1 year. The frequency and amount of sugary food and drinks should be as low as possible.

Good sugars for kids are those that occur naturally. For example, the sugars in a strawberry or banana or glass of milk are all coming from foods that are good sources of nutrition for kids. And the sugar content in these foods is usually easier for your child's digestive system to process.

Yogurts, plain yogurt options are recommended and fresh fruit or small amounts of honey can be added to the portion. A healthy portion for most children is often about the amount of yogurt that fits in their hand, so make sure you’re not giving them too large of a portion

Top tips for parents and guardians

Foods or drinks labelled as no added sugar and/or naturally-occurring sugars may contain free sugar —e.g. when they contain honey, fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate. UnderEuropean regulations, there is no mandatory labelling of free sugar, so it may not be apparent from food labels that foods (e.g. Processed cereal-based foods, baby foods for infants and young children) and beverages(e.g. in fruit juices) contain free sugar.

Fruit juices usually have superior nutritional composition to Sugar Sweetened Beverages, as they contain potassium, vitamins A and C and someare fortified with vitamin and/or calcium, but they contain similar amounts of free sugar (5-17%) and energy (23-71 kcal/100 ml).actual intake boys: 16% (130 g/day)recommended sugar intake: <5%actual intake girls: 17% (110 g/day).

Dr. Prashanth S Urs, Senior Consultant Neonatologist & Pediatrician, Apollo Hospital Bannerghatta Road & Seshadripuram, Bengaluru