A new study has found that packaging on children’s beverages is “deliberately misleading” moms when they are out doing the weekly grocery shopping. Moms are rightly concerned about the health and wellbeing of their children, and this means that they are making sure that they are getting their children healthy and nutritious food. While they don’t mind indulging in a snack occasionally, they want the foods their children eat to be routinely healthy. However, it turns out that mom may think she is making healthy choices, but she could be being misled by companies.According to Medical Xpress, a new study has found that beverage packaging is misleading when it comes to nutritional value and information and that this may be done intentionally. This study was done by the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, and it can be read in full here.RELATED: 6 Drinks To Give Toddlers Besides Juice That They Won't RejectCurrently, the recommendations are that children under the age of 2 should not have any added sugar, and even older children should only have it in moderation. However, companies may be relying on moms being “too busy” when they are shopping to not pay too close attention to what the packaging says.The study found that a lot of parents are confused about the different categories when it comes to beverages. They are unsure of the differences between sweetened fruit-flavored drinks, 100 percent juice, and even toddler milk. The study also found that companies will pair their less healthy products with their healthier choices and set them side-by-side in a grocery store. This adds to the confusion parents have, and it can lead them to choose the unhealthy option. This is a known marketing tactic, and it shows how deceptive they can be when it comes to them making more money.

A new study has found that half of children across the world are consuming energy drinks. Parents are incredibly invested in what their children are eating and drinking, and this is because they care about their health and wellbeing. While parents may try and make sure that their child gets all the nutrition and vitamins they need, there can be some challenges. Childhood obesity is a worldwide problem, and while there are many factors that go into play, added sugar and sugary beverages are one of them, and it is important to be aware of how deep the problem has become.According to Medical Xpress, a new study is showing that up to half of all children worldwide consume energy drinks on a weekly basis. Energy drinks are not only full of sugar, but they have other ingredients that are not going to aid a child’s development and growth.RELATED: Young Men May Suffer Heart Failure If They Consume Too Many Energy DrinksThis study was published in the journal, BMJ Open, and it can be read in full here. For children who consumed energy drinks 5 or more days a week had a link with health and behavioral issues. The only problem with this study is that it was done using surveys, so there are other factors that cannot be accounted for.When we look at energy drinks, we can see that they contain a similar amount of caffeine to a 60ml espresso. If parents were asked if they would give their child an espresso, their answer would likely be no, but researchers are stating that this is no different, but it may actually be more damaging since they also contain more added sugar and other ingredients.When they looked specifically at children in the UK, they found that between 3% and 32% drank energy drinks at least one day out of the week. Previous studies have shown that energy drinks in youth are linked with poor mental and physical health when compared to youth who did not consume energy drinks.

A new study has found that letting teenagers make their own diet choices can help them feel better about themselves. A healthy lifestyle is important for everyone’s health and wellness, and now just physically. Making good food choices and getting exercise can also benefit our mental health. Parents try and make sure that their children are eating good foods, and when their children grow into teenagers, they continue to hope that they make good choices. Teenagers may be known for making some not-so-healthy choices, and mom may find it tempting to give her advice on what they should eat, but maybe it is time to trust our teens a bit more.According to Medical Xpress, a new study was done that showed that a teenager who makes their own diet decisions may lead to them feeling better about themselves. Body image has been shown to be a large problem with youth, specifically girls, and it can be dangerous and harmful.RELATED: 8 Foods That Boost Kids' Mental HealthThis study was done by Flinders University, and it can be read in full here. The study involved 27 high school students, from various socioeconomic backgrounds, and it found that they were “generally well aware” of setting their own goals and what is a healthy food choice.This showed researchers that healthy food messages and setting boundaries works when it comes to teenagers making healthy food choices. Researchers asked 12 to 17-year-old’s what their beliefs were on healthy eating, and what their perceptions of it were. They found that food choices that are established during childhood are important and can lay a foundation for them to later make healthy choices. They were also surprised to find that this was the same across all socioeconomic backgrounds, because it is widely assumed that children from lower-income homes have a less healthy lifestyle.

Some children appear to be “off” their favorite foods following a COVID-19 infection, and let’s talk about it. On the best of days, feeding a child can be a tricky thing. Mom wants to make sure that their child gets all of the nutrients and food that they need for their health and development, but it can be difficult. Some children are “picky” eaters, and some only have a few “safe” foods that they will eat. These are go-to items and meals that mom knows that her child will eat when all other attempts fail. However, it can be troublesome when children start refusing even those foods.That is what parents are seeing in their children who have had COVID-19, showing yet another reason we want to make sure that the children are protected as the consequences go far beyond “a cold.” According to Medical Xpress and California News Today, children are struggling to eat following a bout with the virus.RELATED: How To Help Children With "Long" COVID Thrive In SchoolThis information comes from researchers from the University of East Anglia and Fifth Sense, and they state that this is because a lot of people, and children, are living with something called ‘parosmia’ after recovering from the virus.Parosmia is when people experience strange distortions in their smell. This means that something that should smell good to them, does not. Imagine trying to smell a warm, chocolate chip cookie but only smelling rotten egg. Smell is incredibly closely related to our taste buds, and it is part of what entices us to eat every day. This means that if a child is given chicken nuggets and fries for lunch (a popular choice), it may not smell appealing to them, and they are not going to want to eat it. We doubt you would want to eat that chocolate chip cookie either.

It may be giving a lot of families flashbacks; grocery store shelves are bare again for numerous reasons. Almost everyone can remember when the pandemic first started, and the major hoarding that was going on in the grocery stores. It was especially hard to find toilet paper, but other items were hard to find as well. This meant that stores were putting limits on items that a family could buy, and this was a problem for a lot of big families out there who had to go to the store multiple times a week, something that is not ideal when everyone was being told to stay home.According to NPR and WAMU, grocery store shortages are happening again, and mom may have a hard time finding items that she needs for her family. Food is essential, and it is important that mom is able to find the items she needs to make sure her household is fed and cared for.RELATED: It's Possible To Remain Sane When Grocery Shopping With Multiple KidsThis is another situation that may cause more stress for families out there, and even though it seems like we should be past this, it seems like we are right back to March of 2020.Social media sites are being covered with images from people showing bare shelves in grocery stores, and there are a lot of reasons why this is happening again. While the pandemic continues to be one of the most contributing factors, the winter season doesn’t help. Some areas are being hit with major winter storms, and this can slow down the production and delivery of food items. The Omicron variant is also to blame for this shortage, as it is more transmissible. With more people contracting the variant, more people are unable to work and this means that there are no factory workers, and fewer truck drivers to deliver the food.

One of the most popular children's snacks is coming adult-size, and those are Goldfish crackers. If there is one thing that moms know, it is that their children are always hungry, it is just a part of motherhood. They are always asking for snacks, and they never seem to be full. They are used to hearing their children call for a snack what seems like every 5 minutes, and this means that mom always has to have snacks on hand. One of the most popular snacks to always have is Goldfish crackers. However, mom will often find herself indulging in her children’s snacks, whether she is hungry in the car and that is all they have in the diaper bag, or their child refuses to finish the snack that they just asked for.According to Food & Wine and People, Pepperidge Farm has come out with bigger Goldfish crackers, and they are marketing them directly towards mom and dad. They seem to have caught on that parents love to munch on these snacks as well, so why not make them more appropriately sized.RELATED: 8 Healthy On-The-Go Snacks For ToddlersThese new crackers are called ‘Mega Bites,’ and they are 50% bigger than the traditional goldfish crackers. They also come in two new flavors, sharp cheddar and cheddar jalapeno.Mom may still want to hide these because there are chances that her children will ask for some of her own special Goldfish crackers. The brand said that the bigger size and flavors are meant to turn the small snack into a real snack for adults. The staff at People got to be one of the first to taste the new crackers, and they had some reviews to share. They said that the new crackers are more cracker-like than the smaller ones, but they still taste the exact same. They said that the cheddar jalapeno is a bit hot, but nothing overwhelming and this means that it may be OK for your child to eat a few.

When we look at livestream gaming platforms, we may notice that ads for junk food are “taking over.” Children are invested in online gaming right now. Gone are the days of Nintendo consoles, and now children want to log online and play games with their friends and people all over the world. This was made especially apparent through the pandemic, and it became one of the only ways young kids could find connections. Parents may have some concerns about how much their children are playing and how much time they are spending online, but they also may need to watch out for their physical health.Childhood obesity is a problem in the US and much of the world, and advertisements can be part of the blame as children are exposed to more content. According to US News and Times News, junk food ads are reaching children through their live stream gaming services.RELATED: UK Limiting Junk Food Ads To Battle Childhood ObesityThis new research is showing that children may be exposed to ads for energy drinks, junk food, and even alcohol on their gaming platforms. Showing that parents need to still be aware of what their child is doing online.Caitlyn Edwards is a postdoctoral scholar of nutritional sciences at Penn State University and she stated that this kind of marketing can normalize these things to children, things that are not healthy. She said that this is concerning because these children are at an age where they are developing eating habits that could follow them into adulthood. They were most shocked about the alcohol content, especially since the children playing the games were all still underage, and it can make drinking seen as a “normal” thing that should be done every day.[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/gamezbyte/status/1471473463479046145[/EMBED_TWITTER]The platforms that had this content were Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and YouTube Gaming, and while these are still relatively new, they are incredibly popular and almost 25% of all accounts on these sites are children between the ages of 13 and 17 years old. To complete the study, the researchers looked at more than 300 food and beverage products that have a lot of marketing on social media. The largest contributor was energy drinks, making up 74% of the ads that children are watching. Energy drinks are known to be high in sugar, caffeine count and are just not healthy drink options for youth. The study also found that these ads increased largely during the pandemic when a lot of youth were on the sites.Sources: US News, Times News

A new study has shown that food insecurity is linked with disordered eating behavior in later life. Food insecurity is a large problem across the country and the world, and the pandemic has only made more people aware of the number of people out there who do not have regular access to food. Children all have rights, and one of those rights is to have healthy food available to them. However, families can really struggle to make sure their children have enough to eat, and while this is the reality for some, it is important to look at what the outcomes of this can be to help those who are affected.According to Medical Xpress, a new study was done that has shown that severe food insecurity as a child is linked to disordered eating about 5 years later. This can include binge eating behavior. The study was done by the University of Minnesota and can be read in full here.RELATED: Food Insecurity Is A Crisis Kids Shouldn’t Be FacingThe study showed that those who are most at risk of this are those who live in lower income areas and the aim of the study was to see what the relationship is between food insecurity and future eating disorders.To complete the study, researchers looked at data from more than 1,800 youth. They looked at the participants for 10 years, and they were looked at closely in 5-year intervals. They found that those who had experienced food insecurity were more likely to report disordered eating behaviors, and they were linked to the more serious behaviors as well. They found that binge eating and bulimia were 1.5 more likely if a person had experienced food insecurity as a child when compared to those who did not face food insecurity.[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/StudyWeightMgt/status/1468528038497378308[/EMBED_TWITTER]Psychologically speaking, it makes sense that binge eating would be a side effect of food insecurity. Growing up with not enough to eat can change a person’s view on food, and that means that when they do have food to eat, they eat it all in an attempt to reclaim control over what they eat. This study shows that children who are living with food insecurity need resources. Programs need to work to end food insecurity, or at the very least, help children who are growing up in these environments. Based on the timeline, the study also showed that food insecurity, even if it was just for a short period of time in their youth, has impacts that can last for much longer.Sources: Medical Xpress, Science Direct

Twenty percent of families admit to eating more fast food during the pandemic, according to a new survey. As a result, even though a majority of parents in the survey recognized that fast food was not the healthiest of options and cost more than making meals at home, parents felt overwhelmed. And with all of the changes during the pandemic, some turned to fast food as an easy meal when short on time multiple times per week.Pollsters from the University of Michigan found that during the pandemic while half of those surveyed stated that they cooked more meals at home than they did before the pandemic, others still found themselves turning to fast food at much higher rates than ever before, according to CNN. And much of this, the poll found was because those families found it too "complicated" to make home-cooked meals several times per day, especially when pressed for time.[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1440024295963516933[/EMBED_TWITTER]RELATED: Fast Food Restaurants Offering Healthy Options, But Parents Are Not BuyingThe poll entitled, the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll of Children's Health, spoke with over 2,000 participants from around the nation with children ages three through 18 years of age. What they found was that most parents agreed that fast food was not healthy for children. However, 72 percent found it to be a good option when there was no time to make a meal and 84 percent thought it was fine to give to kids in moderation.Multiple studies have found that while all fast food is not the same when it comes to how processed it is, fast food by nature is not healthy for children.According to News-Medical.net, kids who consume fast food regularly are more prone to being obese, lack the vitamins and minerals for proper nutrition, and face chronic illnesses in the future. As such, while it is a convenient option for parents to turn to in a pinch, by providing fast food multiple times per week to kids, asthma and eczema conditions are more prevalent, sleep is disrupted, kids have less energy, do not perform as well in school, and a whole host of other issues.With parents becoming not only teachers and full-time childcare providers during the pandemic, but they also had to find ways to work while accomplishing all of this. As a result, according to KABC, the routines that many had established became "disrupted," including mealtimes. And the more stressed parents found themselves, the more "compromises" were made in the household.[EMBED_TWITTER]https://twitter.com/HealthTakeMinn/status/1440367885105328129[/EMBED_TWITTER]The survey revealed that parents were aware that fast food causes kids to gain weight. However, those who took their kids to get fast food more often had kids who were overweight. And while parents tried to encourage their kids to make healthier choices when choosing what they were going to eat, 88 percent stated that in the end, it was up to kids as to what they ate. As such, choices to have soda, milkshakes, and fries were made over water, apples, and other fruit options.Pollsters conducted the survey after completing a study with over 200,000 participants throughout the US that found the levels of obesity have "spiked" as a result of the pandemic. And with the changes to lifestyles over the past 18 months or more, the fear is that obesity rates will continue to rise, according to Michigan Health.The survey shows that there need to be more convenient options when it comes to making food at home rather than turning to fast food for meal options. Not only will it help with the childhood obesity epidemic but it will also encourage family time, something that many families lack these days.Source: CNN, Michigan Health, University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll of Children's Health, KABC, News-Medical.net, JAMA