An exploration into parental awareness of sugar consumption in children’s diets

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity is linked to a number of physical and psychological health implications, many are typically only associated with adulthood and can impose long-lasting effects. Excess sugar within children’s diets significantly contributes towards increasing rates of obesity and tooth decay. Recent guidelines have stated that sugar consumption should only account for 5% of total dietary intake. Aim: To explore the level of parental awareness regarding sugar consumption in children’s diets. Methodology: Qualitative study using thematic analysis. Semi-structured telephone interviews took place with a sample of 11 participants (mothers with at least one child aged between 2-12 years). Findings: Whilst all participants did demonstrate some level of awareness for the dangers of sugar, frequently changing nutritional guidelines caused feelings of confusion. Adopting a ‘buffering’ role in order to protect the child from external factors was repeatedly evident among participants. Parents spoke about the need to find a balance between foods that they perceived as healthy and those that were not, in order to justify occasional poor eating habits. Discussion and conclusion: Various factors contribute towards the inclusion of excess sugar in children’s diets and the mother adopts a buffering role in order to monitor their child’s daily intake. Improved education for parents is warranted, in addition to wider scale efforts such as government legislation changes. Future research should incorporate fathers and grandparents, in order to keep up-to-date with societal changes. A more in-depth look into parents’ perceptions of ‘healthy’ foods would also provide a greater understanding of the key issue.