When it comes to healthy eating, especially for young children, the indication is four daily meals and a snack mid-morning fruit base. However, there is a tendency to limit the number of meals three times including twice in the day and increase the number of times in the days where children and adults eat small amounts of food at irregular intervals, especially “snacks “. These foods are defined as “snacks” are characterized by high energy density (calories), high in fat, saturated fat, trans fat, salt and / or sugar. Sold in bags of small, reasonably priced $ 150 to $ 200, with colorful and attractive packaging, often with gifts to collect, to stimulate and facilitate the purchase of more than one day.
Studies in adults have shown that eating low-calorie snacks delay in less than an hour (25 to 34 minutes on average) the application of food and are not a reduction in energy consumed at the next meal, thus contributing the positive energy balance and weight gain. When this observation is made in relation to protein foods (dairy, meat) is that the response is delayed by about 60 minutes, suggesting the importance of food quality in these intermediates.
Some studies in Chile and field observations of doctors and teachers show that a significant percentage of children come to school without breakfast. A study in Santiago found that 4% of the students did not, and that after a period of educational intervention, this percentage increased to 12%, which is still extremely low. These same children had snacks from home based on food type snacks and sugary drinks, representing on average about 500 kcal / day. While there are no studies evaluating the long-time impact of these frequent snacks to children who require on average between 1500 and 1800 kcal / day, without a doubt this snacks or “snacks” represent a significant increase in energy intake the daily diet.
The theme of the newsstands in schools and food sold there should be a concern for schools and parent associations as a way of limiting the progression of childhood obesity. It is difficult to have healthy kiosks, unless you only offer fruits and some fat-free yogurt, because in general foods for snacks do not meet the necessary requirements to be called healthy. Perhaps if parents send snacks from home simply based on fruits, milk, unsweetened homemade sandwich delivery may limit excessive and unnecessary calories to children. One issue that schools should discuss is that if the magnitude of the problem of obesity, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension and diabetes present in our school continue to be justified kiosks in schools, where for the time you can not have enough healthy foods justify their retention.