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Feeding our child is an act of love, starting from the very first moments of life.

By feeding our child well, we help them grow up healthy.

Below, we will see how healthy snacks can contribute to better health for our children and help reduce the likelihood of certain medical conditions.

1. What is a snack?

A snack is a small meal eaten between the 3 main meals of the day (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

It should not be confused with “snack foods”, which are ready-to-eat foods that are usually high in carbohydrates and/or salt and often rich in saturated fats. Unfortunately, “snack foods” are often consumed at snack time, e.g. crisps, chocolate wafers, biscuits…

2. When / why do children eat snacks?

Morning snack: Most children eat a snack (their mid-morning snack) during the main morning break at school. It is an important meal because:

• it provides children with energy to play and exercise
• it helps with concentration during lessons
• it complements the main meals nutritionally

Afternoon snack: Not all children need an afternoon snack. This depends on each child’s schedule and eating habits.

Will they be taking part in a sports activity? At what time? What time will they have dinner? Have they eaten fruit as a mid-morning snack or with lunch? Could we offer fruit in the afternoon? Often, this is the only opportunity for the parent / caregiver to help the child eat that “all-important fruit”…..

However, we should be careful with the “boredom snack”, meaning something the child eats in the afternoon simply because they are bored and it happens to be available (e.g. grandma’s biscuits…)

Evening snack: We should avoid an evening snack, meaning food after the main evening meal: children who consume snacks late at night tend to eat a small breakfast or no breakfast at all. We know that skipping breakfast increases a child’s likelihood of developing obesity.

Therefore, when a child eats an evening snack, the risk of obesity increases for two reasons: it is usually a poor-quality snack (e.g. crisps in front of the television…) and, at the same time, it reduces the likelihood of the child eating a good breakfast the following morning.

3. Does it matter whether the snack is “healthy”?

The answer is, of course, YES! Let us look at why.

For all children: The eating habits we develop in childhood stay with us throughout our lives. They can be difficult to change later if necessary. Therefore, by teaching a child healthy eating habits, we give them a gift that will stay with them forever.

Studies also show that frequent consumption of healthy food improves blood lipid levels and blood pressure.

For children who eat very little: A snack helps us meet the child’s daily nutritional needs, both in terms of calories and essential nutrients such as calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C.

For children who tend to eat too much, consume unhealthy foods and/or are overweight:

Consumption of salty “snack foods”, such as crisps, is associated with an increased risk of hypertension.

Consumption of high-calorie “snack foods” increases the likelihood of obesity. We should also remember that the more deeply rooted these eating habits become, the more difficult they are to change.

In everyday clinical practice, I observe that many children eat 3 healthy main meals but poor-quality snacks. This can have a significant impact on their health (obesity, arterial hypertension, impaired glucose metabolism).

Studies in adolescents have shown that unhealthy eating behavior is associated with an overall unhealthy lifestyle (less exercise, smoking, more television). For this reason, every effort is worthwhile from an early age and later during adolescence to help our children eat well.

Of course, this does not mean that “snack foods” and sweets are forbidden; they are simply recommended less frequently.

4. What constitutes a healthy snack?

• Fresh seasonal fruit; dried fruit should be offered less frequently

If possible, we should vary the fruit we offer, but we should not be concerned if a child wants the same fruit every day. Opportunities to try something different will come naturally, without pressure.

• Vegetable sticks (carrot, cucumber, pepper)
• Wholegrain bread, rusks, rice cakes
• Cheese (on its own or in toast / sandwiches), yogurt
• Unsalted nuts such as hazelnuts and almonds
• Foods with a high sugar content (such as sweets, cakes, chocolate wafers, packaged juices…) are not recommended, as they provide calories without significant nutritional value. Foods with a high salt content (crisps, cheese puffs…) are also not recommended.

When we provide our children with healthy and tasty snacks at the time they need them (in the morning and possibly in the afternoon depending on their schedule) and, of course, in the appropriate quantity, we help them enjoy better health and give them healthy eating habits that can last a lifetime.