Snacks: Delicious but dangerous<\/p>\n
Santi Hendrawati, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Candy, potato chips, chocolate, taffy, ice-cream, milk and
\nother snacks as well as instant noodles are consumed in large
\nquantities by many children and in some cases are the staple of
\nmany a kid's diet because some parents allow their children to
\neat such junk food.<\/p>\n
Andang Gunawan, a nutritionist who graduated from the
\nQueensland Institute of Science in Australia, has conceded that
\nit is not easy for parents to prevent their children from buying
\nand eating snacks, which are available in various forms, tastes
\nand colors in the supermarket, in small shops and in food stalls
\nnear schools.<\/p>\n
Processed foods such as the aforementioned, are cooked several
\ntimes and lose most of their nutritional value. Other processed
\nsnacks are produced through a long dissolving, heating and
\nevaporation process, which eliminates not only vitamins, but also
\nminerals and various other kinds of nutrition needed by human
\nbodies.<\/p>\n
The use of additional ingredients, preservatives and
\nseasonings such as MSG, can have an adverse effect on brain
\ndevelopment in children. Other chemical substances can be even
\nmore dangerous to human health, as those materials have been
\nfound to disrupt metabolism and eventually leads to brain damage.<\/p>\n
Disruption of the metabolism is detrimental to the brain,
\nwhich consists of the smallest, the softest and most sensitive
\ncells in the human body, and damage to those cells can be very
\ndetrimental indeed to overall health.<\/p>\n
\"No wonder there was a one-year-old child who cheerfully waved
\nhis hands at his father who left for the office in the morning,
\nbut suddenly could not recognize his parents and others around
\nhim in the evening because he suffered from autism,\" said Andang.<\/p>\n
Autism is a mental disease that emerges from a metabolism
\ndisorder which is often not easily recognizable by parents. It
\ntakes a long process before the disruption of the metabolism
\nresulting from insufficient brain nourishment develops into
\nautism.<\/p>\n
Obesity or extreme thinness among children is also common
\ntoday. Various allergic diseases, skin diseases, coughs,
\ninfluenza and asthma are also prevalent among children. A
\ncontributing factor in those illnesses is often related to an
\nexcessive amount of junk food, according to Andang.<\/p>\n
Soft drinks, such as one American-based, world renowned cola,
\ncontain carbon dioxide. In addition such drinks can also greatly
\nboost gastric acid. When the body has too much acid, the calcium
\nin the body will melt down.<\/p>\n
One of the solutions normally taken by parents to keep food
\nand soft drink intake at a minimum is to make sure that kids
\nfirst eat enough nutritious food before consuming any junk food.<\/p>\n
\"Ice cream, chocolate or cookies will do no harm,\" said
\nAndang. \" As long as the child wants to consume fruits and
\nvegetables to balance his or her diet, 60 percent of the child's
\nintake should at least comprise fresh fruits and vegetables.\"<\/p>\n
The 60 percent intake of fruits and fresh vegetables will
\nbalance the body's need for base acid, thus preventing the body
\nfrom becoming too acidic. Fruits and fresh vegetables contain a
\nvariety of enzymes, vitamins and oxidizing agents to rid the body
\nof toxic substances.<\/p>\n
Some parents who are fully aware of the importance of fruits
\nand vegetables for children, and are finding it difficult to make
\nchildren eat them and instead, try to correct the imbalance by
\ngiving the child vitamins or food supplements.<\/p>\n
For example, to meet the child's need for vitamin C, parents
\noften force the pills on the children. The problem is that the
\nintake of vitamin C that is derived from sources other than fruit
\nwill undergo a different process in the body. The body will not
\nabsorb synthetic vitamin C directly even if it was extracted from
\nnatural products.<\/p>\n
Such vitamins have undergone chemical changes and the working
\nmechanism is different from the vitamins that comes from fresh,
\nnatural food. \"They (the vitamin pills) will have to be
\ndigested,\" Andang explained. However, during the process of
\ndigestion, the body will first detect the food. When a food is
\nconsidered alien or something that will cause illness, the body's
\ndefense system will automatically reject it.<\/p>\n
\"Because without enzymes, each food that comes into the body
\nwill be regarded as a disease, so take a vitamin together with
\nyour meal\" Andang advised.<\/p>",
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