Anchor CalciYum snack audit sees health a priority but sugar intake still high

Recent research reveals 89% of parents are very concerned about the amount of sugar and fat their children eat. With approximately 30% of children classified as overweight or obese in New Zealand, it is heartening to see health messages are getting through to parents.

Anchor CalciYum commissioned Colmar Brunton to survey parents with children aged 5 to 12 years in an effort to better understand parent’s perceptions of children’s snack foods and behaviour. Results suggest parents have become savvier about kids’ nutrition over recent years, but purchasing decisions are still largely based on convenience.

Although some gains have been made around health consciousness, findings revealed that parents are still giving children convenience foods that are high in sugar. Busy parents reveal they gave their children biscuits, chips and muesli bars either daily or up to 4 times per week. For example, 73% of parents admitted to knowing muesli bars have high levels of sugar, yet they are still the fifth most popular snack food, with 66% of parents giving their children them on a weekly basis. When considering chips as a snack food, the majority of people acknowledge this as a low sugar snack, but ignore the fact they are high in fat, with 51% giving their kids chips daily or up to 4 times per week.

More than 64% of parents who buy biscuits and chips consider them to be a treat rather than a healthy snack, and are aware biscuits have high levels of sugar, but know that their children will eat them.

Dr Carol Wham, nutritionist and senior lecturer from Massey University, notes that at the end of the day children’s food preferences are learned. Repeated exposure to healthy options, familiarity and parents as role models help develop good snacking habits. “For some parents, shopping for convenience is simply not going to go away. Therefore I would urge them to make those savvy choices,” says Dr Wham.

Intense health campaigning around New Zealand’s alarming obesity levels have led to increased messaging and better education on kids’ nutrition, now heavily supported by a number of government initiatives.

In June 2008 the Ministry of Education launched its National Administration Guidelines on healthy eating for schools and early childcare centres, emphasising the government’s commitment to addressing the issue.

The Ministry of Health funded a collaboration between Educating NZ and the Healthy Kids School Canteen Association (SCA) to implement the Food & Beverage Classification System for schools and early childhood centres. The objective is to enable the provision, selling and promotion of healthy food choices. Food needs to meet the FBCS criteria for either “everyday” or “sometimes” food. These guidelines tie in neatly with the Ministry of Health’s Healthy Eating – Healthy Action Group framework and the Ministry of Education guidelines.

An example of industry stepping up to meet the public health agenda is the recently launched 25% reduction of sugar levels in CalciYum. This product has no artificial sweeteners, is high in calcium with vitamin D, and has been registered as an “everyday” food by the SCA.

“Parents need to be aware of treat food being for ‘occasional’ consumption rather than everyday eating,” says Dr Wham. “Food choices need to be carefully considered and reading food labels to check for total sugar will help with this. The Ministry of Health food and nutritional guidelines recommend children eat 2-3 serves of dairy products each day, as they are high in nutrients and provide children with the calcium they need for bone growth.”

Dairy products are an important component of children’s diets, with calcium being a vital component for growth and bone development. The survey found that 66% of parents consider calcium to be the most important nutrient for growth and development, which means the right messages are getting through.

Convenience foods can be genuinely healthy – parents just need to know what to look for on labels

Notes to Editor

Calcium is rated as the most important nutrient for growth in kids (66%), closely followed by protein (58%), vitamin C (58%) and vitamin D (50%).
Calcium is a vital component of children’s diets because it is important for growth and bone development – Anchor CalciYum contains high levels of calcium, with added vitamin D to aid absorption of calcium.
92% of parents buy fruit snacks weekly for their children.
Most parents are concerned about sugar and fat content in children’s snack foods, with salt being less of a concern.
64% of children eat biscuits at least two and four times a week.
51% of children eat chips at least two and four times a week.
The average muesli bar contains 33g of sugar per 100g.
Anchor CalciYum contains 10g sugar per 100g.
51% of parents are aware of their children eating foods containing artificial sweeteners.
Convenience and “my kids will eat it” are the main reasons for purchasing specific snack foods.
Convenience foods can be genuinely healthy – parents just need to know what to look for on labels.
 

About the survey
Colmar Brunton conducted Anchor CalciYum Sugar Audit survey in September 2008 from a sample of 303 parents from around New Zealand.

About Anchor CalciYum
Anchor CalciYum is a part of the Fonterra Brands consumer portfolio. It is New Zealand's number one Dairy Food brand and provides a vital source of essential nutrients calcium, protein, carbohydrates and Vitamin D, which helps kids achieve their recommended dietary intakes. It contains no artificial colours or flavours and carries the National Heart Foundations tick of approval. The sugar content of CalciYum has recently been reduced by 25% with no artificial sweeteners to make this product even healthier for New Zealand kids. By focusing our energy on continuing to have a deep understanding of consumers and world wide consumer trends and using this insight to develop new innovative and healthy dairy products, we will keep Anchor CalciYum as the first choice for New Zealand consumers.