Why Crisps Are Killing Our Kids
When football legend Gary Lineker appears on those famous Walkers crisp adverts, you might think that crisps are healthy, making it a perfect addition to your kids’ everyday lunch. This is perhaps the reason why crisps are a staple in 69 per cent of lunchboxes in the country. More alarmingly, nearly a fifth of British children eat an average of two packets a day, according to the British Heart Foundation. Unfortunately, the soaring rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes are the consequences.
Britain is the home of the largest crisp manufacturer in the world that processes 800 tonnes of potatoes a day – just enough to satisfy the nation’s craving for the crunchiest and most flavourful snack. You can imagine how many packets of crisps they make per day. In one of their plants based in Leicester, they said the company produces 11 million packets daily.
But looking at it in a different perspective, the country’s love affair with crisps is increasingly putting many people, especially children, at risk of health problems.
Crisps – a National Obsession
While most European countries consider crisps merely a ‘complement’ or aperitif, the UK considers it as a ‘food in its own right’ – as the Savoury Snacks Information Bureau puts it; crisps are "indisputably an integral part of the British culture".
James Stillman, Head of Flavour Development for Walkers, said it’s the ‘physical experience’ that makes crisps an all-time favourite of many. It’s all about the crunch, the taste, the smell, and how the salt dissolves on the tongue and how the flavours develop in the nose. He added that there’s a great deal of anticipation when opening a packet of crisps. “Hardly anywhere else in the world, with the exception of America, do people consume fried potato slices in the manner, the variety and the quantity that we do.”
What’s wrong with these crisps?
Crisps come in so many varieties and flavours. Some of the most famous are the ‘cheese and onion’, ‘ready salted’, ‘steak and onion’, and ‘roast chicken’. Now, more varieties were introduced that makes crisps apparently ‘good’ for everyone. There’s the vegetarian crisp, low-fat crisp, and the like. Pair it with a large bottle of ‘diet’ fizzy drink and you have the most delicious snack on earth which won’t make you feel guilty. It’s ‘healthy’ after all.
But food labels can be very deceiving. If you can take a tour to the nation’s largest crisp manufacturer and follow the processes involved in making crisps, you will discover the reason why these snacks are not really good for your health. According to the British Heart Foundation study, consuming one packet of crisps a day for a whole year is equivalent to consuming 4 litres of cooking oil. This means that most children, who eat at least 2 packets a day, are actually consuming 8 litres or more of cooking oil every day. Worse, most crisps are fried in vegetable oil – the least healthy kind of cooking oil which contains very high amount of polyunsaturated fats. These fats are highly unstable and get oxidised in the body easily. These ‘oxidised fats’ can cause inflammation in cells.
But the Snacks, Nuts and Crisps Manufacturers Association argued that the BHF have over-estimated the oil content by basing their calculations on large crisp packets. They said a 35g bag of crisps contains about 2 ½ teaspoons of oil while a 50g bag contains 3 ½. Neil Campbell from Walkers said they have introduced the use of Sunflower seed last February which resulted to a 70 per cent reduction in saturated fats of their product.
Along with high oil content, crisps are loaded with salt and sugar (not to mention other food additives and preservatives). In a survey commissioned by the Department of Health’s Change4Life initiative last January, experts found that 77 per cent of Britons are unaware that most of their favourite snacks, including crisps, contain salt and sugar. A typical, 25g bag of crisps contain 0.3g of salt which is around twentieth of the daily recommended intake.
If this trend continues, obesity and diabetes will definitely become the future of many children in the UK, suggest Professor Peter Weissberg at BHF.
What can be done?
The foundation is calling for a ban of junk food products to children, especially on TV and internet. They also recommended making lessons on cooking skills a compulsory in schools. In a recent survey published in the medical journal Thorax, three quarters of mums said they fed their kids with takeaways more than three times a week. Preparing foods from the scratch might seem like a daunting habit but it is the best and healthiest way to ensure that you and your family are eating the right food. Cooking allows you to choose healthier ingredients, limit sugar and salt, and adjust the taste to your liking.
Dear Readers,
As a parent, what do you to reduce your child’s consumption of crisps?
Share your comment below.
Sources of this article:
’Pack-a-day crisp habit’ warning
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