If you see chocolate chip cookies and doughnuts that are covered
with sugar, you surely feel fantastic and want to eat them. This is not a
exceptional case for someone. Most people in the world like to eat sugary foods
regardless of age or sex. Of the five flavors, sweet flavor is the flavor that
everyone likes. However, it is not good to eat too much sweet foods for us.
Especially, the sweet temptation of sugar is more dangerous for children than
for adults. That is because they easily tend to lose their self-control and
they can form a habit of craving sweet flavors in an early age. Eating sugary
foods is surely worse for children than for adults.
As I talk about the preference for sweet flavors, I will explain
you the background information why children crave sugary foods more than adults
in terms of physiology and evolutionary theory. Moreover, I will suggest the
risk of eating sweet foods for children in current situation.
Sugar is a
simple carbohydrate that belongs to a class of chemically-related
sweet-flavored substances. It comes in
many different forms. The three main types of sugar are sucrose, lactose, and
fructose. First I will tell you why people find sugar so addictive. Sugar
can be dangerous. It prompts the body to release serotonin, which makes you
feel happy, into the blood stream. The instant happiness we get from sugar is
why we want it when we want to feel comfortable or get a reward. However, the
sugar craving that makes us happy causes an increase in insulin as the body
wants to bring blood glucose levels back to normal. This
has the knock-on effect of ‘sugar
craving’. This is the physiological explanation of the reason why
people become addicted to sugar. Especially for children who are growing, the
physiological effect is more intense. According to Sue
Coldwell, a
researcher at the University of Washington who has studied kids and sweets,
and her colleagues, growing bones actually secrete hormones that can influence
metabolism. They said metabolic hormones like leptin and insulin have been
shown to act on brain areas that control cravings and appetites. It means that
the hormones from growing bones of children make them crave sugary foods.
To understand my thesis, it is important to know the
evolutionary theory of craving sugary foods. Many scientists believe a child’s preference for sweet foods is an evolutionary factor. As
children preferred high-calorie foods in times gone by, they could have had a
better chance of survival when food sources were scarce. It has been proven
that sugar is a natural pain reliever in children from the
research of Mennella who works at the MonellChemical Senses Center. This
theory and research suggests the evolutionary evidence that children enjoy
sugary foods far more than adults.
However, children’s preference for sweet foods cannot be an advantage anymore in
current situation even though it has helped them survive in the past. Rather,
it is very dangerous for children to prefer sugary foods in a modern world. In
a modern world, manufacturers often add more sugar to food because it makes
them taste better. Even though the information is mentioned in the food labels,
the consumers don’t
recognize it as sugar because sugar has various forms of words. Therefore, the
consumers are impossible to determine the amount of sugar they are eating. They
eat sugar more than they imagine without recognizing the truth about sugar.
I will argue that children’s preference of sugar is worse than adults’ preference of sugar. To strengthen my argument, I will
suggest the risk of having a bad habit in an early age, the situation that
children are more exposed to sugar than adults, and the evolutionary theory of
children’s
preference for sugar.
The biggest problem of children’s preference for sugar is that it can become a bad eating
habit. According to health website GreenFacts,
adopting healthy habits in an early age reduces the risk of serious health
problems as people get older. That means, on the other hand, having bad habits
in an early age increases the risk of serious health problems. Although
bad habits formed in an early age can be changed later in life, it would be
much more difficult as you deal with stressors of work, family and other
obligations. There is a famous proverb that suggests this situation. “What is learned in the
cradle is carried to the tomb.” It advises that habits that are formed in an early age are
important, and they influence on most of your life. Therefore, I argue that
eating a lot of sugary foods in an early age is more dangerous than eating them
later as an adult.
Furthermore, in a modern world, children are exposed to sugar
intake more than adults are. In a modern world, the advertisements of sugary
foods aiming at children have increased to a large amount. There is an example
of cereal companies which advertised cereals aiming at children that
contain more sugar than cereals aiming at adults. Cereal
advertising aimed at children increased by 34% between 2008 and 2011. Marlene Schwartz,
deputy director of the Rudd Center,
said: "While cereal companies have made small improvements to
the nutrition of their child-targeted cereals, these cereals are
still far worse than the products they market to adults. They have 56% more
sugar, half as much fiber, and 50% more sodium." From the example of sales
strategy of cereal companies, we can learn that companies tries to use the mind
of parents who are willing to open their wallets to buy their kids what they
want. Not only companies that sell cereals use the sales strategy aiming at
children, but also companies that sell sugary drinks, chocolates, candies, and
snacks use it. The negative aspect of that strategy is of course, the product
aiming at children contains more sugar than that aiming at adults. Thus I’m arguing that eating sugary foods is more harmful for children
than for adults because children have more possibilities to get bad influence
from sugar.
The evolutionary reason that children crave sugar more
than adults also notices the risk of children’s preference for sugar. I mentioned that children prefer sugar
because children’s
preference for sweet flavors has helped them survive when the foods were scarce
above. According to Mennella
who works at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, children are actually
living in different sensory worlds than adults when it comes to basic tastes.
"They prefer much more intense sweetness and saltiness than the adult, and
it doesn't decrease until late adolescence." Mennella says. Because of the
evolutionary reason for sugary flavor, children are in a more serious danger
than adults. Naturally seeking sugary foods doesn’t act as an evolutionary advantage anymore.
The opponents of
my thesis would insist that eating sugary foods is worse for adults than for
children. They would say that the adults are relatively older and weaker than
children and thus the side effect of sugar intake will negatively influence on
adults more. Also, they would say that unlike children who do not earn money,
adults can earn money and buy sweet foods whenever they want. They would insist
that the possibility to get addicted to sugar is higher in adults because of
their ability to buy sweet foods. However, I disagree with opponents’ arguments strongly. The opponents’ arguments have fatal faults. First, they said it is more dangerous for adults to eat a lot
of sugary foods because they are older and weaker. They did not see the
situation in the long term. In the long term, the fact that children are
younger than adults makes the preference for sugar more dangerous. Children can
form a bad habit in an early age, and be negatively influenced on their health
more seriously since earlier than adults. Second, they said that
adults are exposed to sugar intake
more because they afford to buy sugary foods. However, they did not refer the
research about the amount of sugar intake by age. According to khealth website,adolescents between 12 and 18 have the highest amount of sugar intake, 69.6g.
It is 13% higher than the average amount of sugar intake. Thus, their argument that
adults are much more affected by sugar intake due to their affordability is wrong.
As the time passes, a
lot of processed foods have emerged due to the rapid-speed society. These
processed foods contains a lot of sugar that is hidden in other names, but
people eat them without recognizing the fact. In a modern world, children are
in the center of risk of sugar intake. The evolutionary theory, physiological
theory of children’s
preference for sugar is fatal to children living in the modern world. The
health problems of children that are caused by sugar intake is becoming very
serious. If my argument is persuaded by other people, we will recognize the
importance of forming eating habits in an early age, and educate children about
the risk of eating a lot of sugary foods. Therefore, we will be able to
guarantee their healthy eating habits, and even healthy future. In the long
term, children who recognized the risk of sugar can grow as adults who have
healthy habits, and the adults will educate healthy habits to their children,
forming a healthy cycle. Therefore, I think it is important to inform the risk
of children's preference for sugar, and to continue disputing about this topic.
References-I added the references
References-I added the references
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