Food Commission publishes new guide to children’s food

28th April 2004

Children deserve the best food and drink we can provide, but research shows that most children are eating a dangerously unbalanced diet, high in saturated fats, sugar and salt, and low in fruit and vegetables.

More than one in five children are now overweight, and one in three children have tooth decay before they even begin primary school. A poor diet can mean poor concentration at school, and increases the risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes in later life.

The Food Commission Guide to Children’s Food is designed to help parents and carers distinguish which children’s foods are genuinely healthy, and to spot the unhealthy ingredients which lurk in many popular children’s foods and drinks.

The guide, published in poster format, explains that simply reading food labels and looking for added vitamins is not enough to protect children’s health. Many food products are poorly labelled, and advertisers are happy to promote high fat, high sugar and high salt products as ‘healthy’ and ‘nutritious’.

The poster provides a wealth of information for those who want to improve children’s nutrition and health, and costs only £2.50 inclusive of postage and packing. The Food Commission is a not-for-profit organisation and all profits from sales are used to continue the campaign for healthier, safer food in the UK.

Copies are available from The Food Commission, Freepost KE 7564, London N1 9BR. Note: this poster is no longer unavailable, but a pdf can be viewed using the link below.

Useful resources

Open full size PDF of Children's Food Poster. Click on link to open page. 120 KB. Suitable for viewing on screen using Adobe Acrobat.