The Global Fight Against Junk Food: Parents from Kenya to Nepal Share Their Struggles

The menace of industrially manufactured edible products is an international crisis. Even though their use is particularly high in Western nations, making up the majority of the average diet in the UK and the US, for example, UPFs are taking the place of natural ingredients in diets on all corners of the globe.

In the latest development, the world’s largest review on the risks to physical condition of UPFs was released. It warned that such foods are subjecting millions of people to long-term harm, and called for immediate measures. Previously in the year, a global fund for children revealed that a greater number of youngsters around the world were overweight than malnourished for the historic moment, as junk food dominates diets, with the most dramatic increases in low- and middle-income countries.

Carlos Monteiro, a scholar in the field of nourishment science at the a major educational institution in Brazil, and one of the analysis's writers, says that profit-driven corporations, not individual choices, are driving the transformation in dietary behavior.

For parents, it can seem as if the entire food system is working against them. “At times it feels like we have no authority over what we are serving on our kid’s plate,” says one mother from South Asia. We interviewed her and four other parents from across the globe on the increasing difficulties and frustrations of ensuring a nutritious food regimen in the era of ultra-processing.

The Situation in Nepal: A Constant Craving for Sweets

Bringing up a child in Nepal today often feels like trying to swim against the current, especially when it comes to food. I cook at home as much as I can, but the moment my daughter steps outside, she is bombarded with colorfully presented snacks and sugary drinks. She constantly craves cookies, chocolates and bottled fruit beverages – products intensively promoted to children. Just one pizza commercial on TV is enough for her to ask, “Can we have pizza today?”

Even the school environment perpetuates unhealthy habits. Her school lunchroom serves flavored drink every Tuesday, which she eagerly awaits. She is given a six-piece biscuit pack from a friend on the school bus and chocolates on birthdays, and confronts a snack bar right outside her school gate.

At times it feels like the whole nutritional ecosystem is working against parents who are just striving to raise healthy children.

As someone working in the a national health coalition and spearheading a project called Encouraging Nutritious Meals in Education, I understand this issue deeply. Yet even with my expertise, keeping my young child healthy is exceptionally hard.

These ongoing experiences at school, in transit and online make it nearly impossible for parents to limit ultra-processed foods. It is not simply about what kids pick; it is about a dietary structure that normalises and advocates for unhealthy eating.

And the figures reflects exactly what families like mine are facing. A recent national survey found that 69% of children between six and 23 months ate unhealthy foods, and nearly half were already drinking sugary drinks.

These numbers resonate with what I see every day. A study conducted in the district where I live reported that a notable percentage of schoolchildren were above a healthy size and 7.1% were obese, figures directly linked with the rise in unhealthy snacking and more sedentary lifestyles. Another study showed that many kids in Nepal eat sweet snacks or salty packaged items on a regular basis, and this regular consumption is tied to high levels of oral health problems.

Nepal urgently needs stronger policies, healthier school environments and more stringent promotion limits. In the meantime, families will continue waging a constant war against junk food – one biscuit packet at a time.

In St. Vincent: The Shift from Local Produce to Processed Meals

My circumstances is a bit particular as I was had to evacuate from an island in our chain of islands that was destroyed by a severe cyclone last year. But it is also part of the bleak situation that is confronting parents in a area that is feeling the gravest consequences of global warming.

“The situation definitely deteriorates if a storm or volcanic eruption wipes out most of your crops.”

Prior to the storm, as a nutrition instructor, I was very worried about the growing spread of fast food restaurants. Nowadays, even community markets are participating in the transformation of a country once known for a diet of nutritious home-produced fruits and vegetables, to one where greasy, salty, sugary fast food, loaded with manufactured additives, is the choice.

But the scenario definitely intensifies if a hurricane or geological event decimates most of your crops. Unprocessed ingredients becomes rare and prohibitively costly, so it is exceptionally hard to get your kids to have a proper diet.

Despite having a steady job I am shocked by food prices now and have often resorted to picking one of items such as legumes and pulses and meat and eggs when feeding my four children. Offering reduced portions or reduced helpings have also become part of the post-disaster coping strategies.

Also it is quite convenient when you are managing a stressful occupation with parenting, and rushing around in the morning, to just give the children a little money to buy snacks at school. Unfortunately, most campus food stalls only offer manufactured munchies and sugary sodas. The consequence of these difficulties, I fear, is an rise in the already alarming levels of non-communicable illnesses such as blood sugar disorders and cardiovascular strain.

Kampala's Landscape: A Fast-Food Dominated Environment

The sign of a major fried chicken chain towers conspicuously at the entrance of a commercial complex in a Kampala neighbourhood, tempting you to pass by without stopping at the drive-through.

Many of the kids and caregivers visiting the mall have never gone beyond the borders of the country. They certainly don’t know about the historical economic crisis that inspired the founder to start one of the first American international food chains. All they know is that the three letters represent all things sophisticated.

Throughout commercial complexes and each trading place, there is convenience meals for every pocket. As one of the costlier choices, the fried chicken chain is considered a luxury. It is the place Kampala’s families go to mark birthdays and baptisms. It is the children’s incentive when they get a positive academic results. In fact, they are hoping their parents take them there for the holidays.

“Mom, do you know that some people bring takeaway for school lunch,” my teenage girl, who attends a school in the area, tells me. She says that on the days they do not pack that, they pack food from a regional restaurant brand selling everything from morning meals to burgers.

It is Friday evening, and I am only {half-listening|