4.1 Explain The Impact Of Poor Diet On Children Essay

Parizad Batty-Avari

EYE11-4.1 Explain the impacts of poor diet on children's health and development

Nutritious food is of paramount importance for a healthy mind and body. Childhood is a time of critical growth in which proper nutrition is absolutely necessary. Children who have poor diets either due of a lack of food or because of bad eating habits and patterns, leads to inadequate intake of nutrients and are prone to significant short-term and long-term health impacts and diseases.

Short-term impact on children’s health:

A poor diet can affect children’s health and development in short term causing a poor immune system. The body finds it difficult to fighting off colds and other infections.

Anaemia: Anaemia is a disease caused by iron deficiency.

Bones and teeth: A lack of calcium can cause long-term problems with bones and teeth that can continue into adulthood. Lack of calcium causes weakness in teeth and bones which in later life can develop into a disease called osteroporosis, which causes older people’s bones to fracture easily.

Tooth decay: If the diet includes too many sugary foods, including fruit juices there is a danger of tooth decay. When younger children’s milk teeth are affected, the adult teeth sitting under the gums can also become decay.

Obesity: There is a direct link between young children’s eating habits and them becoming overweight and obese later on. Children in families with insufficient access to nutritious foods are in fact significantly more likely to be obese in early childhood than other children. This is the result of excessive calorie intake and an emphasis on foods that have high levels of fat, sugar and sodium. This is especially true of children who regularly consume fast food. Obesity in children can lead to conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and a variety of other health problems besides depression and lower