Your child’s favorite foods are probably doused in sugar. Giving your child a quick snack also gives you that extra time you need to finish dinner. Juice seems like a healthy way to make sure your child is somehow consuming fruit.
All of these habits are understandable. Sugar is all around us. Dental decay is also all around us due to sugar intake.
Recommended Sugar Intake
Sugar is especially problematic for dental health. Bacteria feed on food particles found on teeth. Foods that are high in sugar present a feast for that bacteria. As your children grow, this is concerning because their teeth are still growing.
Guidelines for sugar intake generally focus on added sugars. Dieticians are less concerned with naturally occurring sugars, such as those found in fruit and milk.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that people above the age of three consume less than 12.5 teaspoons of added sugar daily. The World Health Organization is more conservative. They recommend that children consume no more than three teaspoons daily.
Children’s foods tend to be particularly troublesome. The guidelines listed below can help you trim the sugar in your child’s diet.
Sticky Snacks
They are your child’s favorites. Unfortunately, they are bacteria’s favorites as well. Limit these snacks on a daily basis.
Fruit snacks seem like a great idea. In theory, fruit snacks are a good alternative, but the added sugar make fruit snacks a problem for your child’s dental health. The fruit snacks stick to your child’s teeth for most of the day.
Raisins are similarly problematic. This dried fruit certainly has less added sugar, but their sticky texture is just like the fruit snacks that stick to your child’s teeth all day.