Nutrition in kindergartens. What should not be in the menu?

Concerned parents often make the choice of a kindergarten based on checking the school's menu. A menu that is inappropriate in their opinion may disqualify the kindergarten. And rightly so, because food is very important for a growing body . Eating habits formed in childhood can also affect a person's entire adult life. At the request of nikaMag, a pediatric dietitian with many years of experience, Magdalena Kubik , who runs the blog for parents "Dietetyk Dzieci's advice" , reviewed the menus of 10 randomly selected public kindergartens in Warsaw (their list is below the text). She talked about her conclusions in an interview for our magazine.

In your opinion, is the nutrition of children in public institutions adequate to the needs of children's bodies?

Pediatric dietitian Magdalena Kubik: It depends, it's not worth generalizing. There are facilities where children are fed quite well, although of course sometimes mistakes can happen everywhere . However, the menu itself depends primarily on the people creating it. A common complaint made by kindergartens as a limitation is the nutritional rate applicable in the facility, which allegedly forces them to make product choices. But for some kindergartens, even the prevailing rates are sufficient to provide good nutrition for children. When assessing kindergarten menus, it is worth remembering that collective feeding, such as feeding in institutions, is not the same as individual feeding at home . We should not expect that our child will be fed in a facility the way we feed him or her at home. However, it is definitely worth expecting good, balanced, varied meals prepared from the highest quality products.

So what should not be in these meals, but is often present anyway?

The most important and most common general mistake in kindergarten nutrition is excess sugar . This concerns both sugar, which is used to sweeten drinks, and simply dishes in which it is already contained - pudding, jelly, cottage cheese, yogurt, cakes, but also ketchup, sauces and even cold meats. Unfortunately, excess sugar in the diet contributes to the development of dental caries , overweight and obesity, and metabolic diseases in children - we all know about these consequences. However, as recent research shows, excess added sugar in the diet can also have a negative impact on a child's learning and memory , as well as creative thinking. Unfortunately, this may have potential educational and health consequences for children. We must get rid of the belief that children will not drink bitter tea or water or eat natural yogurt.

Should we pay attention to something other than sugar in our menus?

Foods that still appear on kindergarten menus that should not be included include:

• a large amount of cold cuts, sausages, pates, sausages or even bacon (this is unacceptable),
• serving fried foods more than twice a week,
• serving cocoa, instant chocolate, i.e. products with high sugar content,
• serving pudding with juice,
• frequent serving of cake for afternoon tea, sponge cakes,
• offering diluted jelly as a drinking product,
• serving sweetened dairy products in the form of yogurts and cheeses,
• offering flavored milk flakes, e.g. chocolate,
• ubiquitous white bread or confectionery bread, such as challah,
• compotes.

The biggest problem is afternoon tea . Unfortunately, they often consist of sweet products: cakes, sponge cakes, cookies. An afternoon snack is a meal during which we should provide small amounts of energy, up to 15% of our daily requirement. Fresh and dried fruit, fresh vegetables and sandwiches with vegetable pastes are perfect here.

Some parents would probably answer that their children actually won't eat natural yogurt or sugar-free cocoa, or that they don't like vegetables. As a result, they will be hungry at kindergarten...

I am a supporter of recognizing parents as responsible for the nutrition of their children. Kindergarten as an institution should remain neutral, serving food not what children like, but what they should like . If parents decide, with all the consequences, that they want to give their children sweet products and sweets, they have such an opportunity outside the kindergarten. Food in kindergarten should also fulfill an additional function - educational . A child in kindergarten should learn the principles of healthy eating , get to know new products and try them among peers. Let's not expect it to always eat everything.

Who regulates the rules according to which children are fed in public kindergartens?

The basic principle of feeding children is to provide them with natural, high-quality and minimally processed products. The amounts of individual ingredients are illustrated in the Healthy Eating Pyramid for children and adolescents , created by the Food and Nutrition Institute. Preschool institutions should, by definition, follow it. Additionally, regardless of the type of cuisine (on-site or catering), they must base their menus on the guidelines of the Regulation of the Minister of Health of July 26, 2016 . This is the basic document on the basis of which they prepare the menu. It clearly defines the product groups and amounts of food additives that chefs can use. The document covers all educational institutions - both kindergartens and schools. It is divided into a part concerning shop sales and a part concerning mass catering. However, many establishments mistakenly believe that products served as part of mass catering are not subject to the quality requirements of the shop section.

So the school vending part is more stringent?

The requirements are more specific. For example, homogenized cheese or flavored yogurts sold in stores should not contain more than 13.5 g of sugar per 100 g of the product. Could it be that we forbid selling this flavored cheese or sweetened fruit drink to children, but giving it as part of an afternoon snack would be appropriate? Each time it is a product that a child should not eat . In the section for shops, the document very precisely specifies the amounts of salt, sugar and fats that may appear in children's meals. There is also talk about sauces such as ketchup or mayonnaise. It is worth reading it to know what to expect from the facility. By following the notes in this document, we can "check off" whether the menu meets the requirements or whether it has any shortcomings.

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As part of the preparation for this interview, pediatric dietitian Magdalena Kubik analyzed the menus of 10 public kindergartens from various districts of Warsaw. These were kindergartens no. 41, 59, 67, 74, 88, 93, 110, 244, 267, 291.

Bibliography:

1. A. Wójcicka, M. Zalewska, E. Czerech, R. Jabłoński, SZ Grabowska, E. Maciorkowska, Dental caries of the developmental age as a civilization disease.
2. Paglia L. The sweet danger of added sugars. Eur J Pediatr Dent. 2019 Jun;20(2):89.
3. Fidler Mis N, Braegger C, Bronsky J, Campoy C, Domellöf M, Embleton ND, Hojsak I, Hulst J, Indrio F, Lapillonne A, Mihatsch W, Molgaard C, Vora R, Fewtrell M; ESPGHAN Nutrition Committee:. Sugar in infants, children and adolescents: position paper of the European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Committee on Nutrition. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2017 Dec;65(6):681-696.
4. Hassevoort KM, Lin AS, Khan NA, Hillman CH, Cohen NJ. Added sugar and dietary fiber intake are associated with creativity in pre-adolescent children. Nutr Neurosci. 2020 Oct;23(10):791-802. doi: 10.1080/1028415X.2018.1558003. Epub 2018 December 18. PMID: 30558494; PMCID: PMC6581636.