Is it true that children's behavior is affected by daily food?

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Medical Video: Food affects children's behaviour and health

According to the American Psychological Association, in addition to enough or lack of attention of parents, children's behavior is influenced by the food they eat too. The reason is, children who eat nutritious healthy foods are usually able to cope with stress and regulate their emotions well. How can food affect children's behavior? See the explanation below.

Children's behavior is influenced by food eaten everyday

Every child needs good nutrition for growth and development. The American Psychological Association (APA) says that children aged 2 years and over need healthy food that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and low-fat dairy products. APA also recommends limiting your children to eating foods that contain saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol and artificial sweeteners.

Besides behavior, food also affects children's cognitive development. For example, children who eat unhealthy foods usually have difficulty concentrating, their bodies are easily tired, irritable and tend to face difficulties in learning. Worse yet, later they are predicted to cause behavioral and social problems. If parents are accustomed to eating healthy food to children from the beginning, chances are the child will have good behavior when they grow up, according to APA.

The behavior of children with ADHD is also influenced by their food

APA also explained that there was an influence between food intake and the behavior of children with ADHD. Disorders attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD is a developmental disorder that affects children's behavior, attention and learning.

A study published in the journal Pediatrics sees the role of eating healthy food as something that can reduce ADHD symptoms in certain children. After the results were compared, researchers found that 70% of studies that suggested ADHD children to eat healthy food turned out to help these children reduce ADHD symptoms.

Avoid giving children foods that contain trans fat

There are several foods that must be avoided, one of which is trans fat. Trans fat is a type of fat produced synthetically. This fat is found in fast food, fried foods, packaged foods (such as biscuits or packaging chips) and baked goods.

Besides being able to increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, trans fat can be linked to aggressive behavior in children. As is well known, aggression is an attitude that refers to behavior that destroys objects or toys and tends to be dangerous if your child experiences this.

Research from the Public Library of Science in 2012 also said that foods containing trans fat in general can be categorized as poor food choices, which could potentially cause health problems and bad behavior in children later.

Give nutritious food to children every day

As mentioned above, children's behavior is influenced by the food they eat. By providing healthy food, at least you have directed and maintained children's behavior to remain good and potentially reduce behavior problems.

So, you parents should maintain and provide nutritious food. You can also follow the simple tips for providing the following nutritious foods:

  • At least give half a plate of vegetables and half a plate of fruit
  • Also avoid cooking food by grilling or frying, you can steam or saute food
  • Replace soda or bottled drinks with mineral water
  • Change packaged snacks into snacks from seeds or nuts
  • Provide healthy protein from animal meat, or at least eat 1 egg each day
Is it true that children's behavior is affected by daily food?
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