Global Focus of the Week: What Parents Should Know About the Food Their Children Eat
There is more to a child’s health than just having enough food on the table. Children’s eating habits, the frequency of eating, the way food is prepared and stored, and the broader food context in which children live can all impact their growth, development and future health.
For parents, it is not just about preventing food poisoning. It also involves considering the nutritional quality of children’s diets, the quantity of highly processed food that children eat, sugary drinks, food hygiene and the availability of healthy options.
This has become a worldwide issue. UNICEF’s 2025 Child Nutrition Report revealed that children and adolescents are being exposed to cheap, readily available and aggressively marketed ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, salty snacks and fast foods in unhealthy food environments.
Meanwhile, children in many parts of the world are still hungry and lack access to nutritious food. This creates a complex nutrition landscape where undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity can all occur in the same communities, households and sometimes even in the same family.
The food children eat is changing
Children today are growing up in food environments very different from those experienced by previous generations.
Packaged snacks, sweetened drinks, fast food and highly processed meals are widely available in supermarkets, neighbourhood shops, school surroundings and online. Advertising also places these products directly in front of children and adolescents.
UNICEF reported in 2025 that obesity had surpassed underweight as the more prevalent form of malnutrition among school-age children and adolescents globally. An estimated 188 million children aged 5–19 were living with obesity, while 391 million were overweight.
This does not mean undernutrition has disappeared. Far from it. Undernutrition remains a serious concern, especially among younger children and in countries affected by poverty, conflict, displacement and food insecurity.
The challenge is that children can now face too little food, too little nutritious food or too much unhealthy food.
Ultra-processed foods deserve parents’ attention
Not all packaged foods are bad, and parents shouldn’t think that they must remove all convenience foods from their child’s diet.
The worry is what occurs when ultra-processed foods are a regular replacement for more nutritious foods.
A large number of ultra-processed foods are rich in free sugars, salt, unhealthy fats or refined starches, but low in nutritional value. UNICEF has warned that these foods and beverages are increasingly replacing fruits, vegetables and protein-rich foods in children’s diets.
A child’s food environment can include biscuits, confectionery, crisps, some instant meals, sweetened breakfast products, processed meats, cakes and packaged snacks. The problem for parents is how often, how much and what these foods are replacing.
A child who eats a biscuit once in a while is not the same as a child who is eating biscuits, sugary drinks and packaged snacks instead of meals on a regular basis.
Sugary drinks can easily become part of the routine
Soft drinks, sweetened juices, energy-style drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages can add substantial amounts of free sugar to a child’s diet without providing the same nutritional value as whole foods.
Because drinks are easy to consume quickly, children may take in large amounts without feeling as though they have eaten much.
WHO recommends limiting free sugars and encouraging healthier dietary patterns based on a variety of foods. It also stresses that healthy diets should provide adequate energy, protein, vitamins and minerals while limiting excessive amounts of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats.
For parents, water can be made the normal drink throughout the day, with sugary beverages treated as occasional rather than routine choices.
A healthy diet does not have to look the same everywhere
There is no single menu that every child around the world should follow.
A healthy diet depends partly on age, nutritional needs, culture, locally available foods and family circumstances. WHO recognises that dietary patterns differ across populations while maintaining basic principles around variety, nutritional adequacy and moderation.
For one family, a nutritious meal might include beans, vegetables and a local grain. Another might rely on whole grains, fish, eggs, lentils, vegetables and fruit. What matters is that children have access to a varied diet that supplies the nutrients they need for growth and development.
Parents can therefore look beyond fashionable diets and expensive health foods. Nutritious eating does not have to be complicated or costly when families have access to appropriate local foods.
Nigeria shows another side of the global problem
Nigeria illustrates why conversations about children’s diets cannot focus only on obesity and processed food.
UNICEF reported in 2024 that around 11 million Nigerian children under five—about one in three—were experiencing severe child food poverty. These children were consuming diets lacking sufficient variety to support healthy growth and development.
UNICEF also reported that cheap, nutrient-poor ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages were increasingly being marketed to families and could displace healthier foods.
This creates a difficult situation. A family may struggle to afford a sufficiently diverse diet while unhealthy, highly marketed products remain relatively accessible.
Nigeria is not alone in facing this tension. Around the world, families are making food choices within environments shaped by income, food prices, availability, advertising and convenience.
That is why improving children’s diets cannot be placed entirely on parents. Schools, governments, food producers, retailers and communities also influence what children can realistically eat.
Food safety starts before the food reaches the child
Nutrition is only one part of the equation.
Food that is nutritious can still make a child ill if it has been contaminated or improperly prepared, cooked or stored.
WHO estimates that contaminated food causes illness in hundreds of millions of people globally every year and says unsafe food can cause more than 200 diseases. Infants and young children are among those especially vulnerable to the effects of unsafe food.
Parents can reduce common risks by following basic food-safety practices:
- Wash hands before preparing or eating food.
- Wash fruits and vegetables appropriately.
- Keep raw foods separate from cooked or ready-to-eat foods.
- Cook meat, poultry, seafood and eggs thoroughly.
- Use safe water and safe raw ingredients.
- Store perishable foods at appropriate temperatures.
- Avoid giving children food that has been left in unsafe conditions.
- Pay attention to expiry dates and signs of spoilage.
These practices matter whether food is prepared in a family kitchen, bought from a shop, packed for school or purchased from a food vendor.
What happens outside the home matters too
Parents cannot monitor every meal their children eat.
Children may eat breakfast at home, lunch at school, snacks bought on the way home and meals prepared elsewhere. Older children may also have more control over what they purchase with pocket money.
This makes the food environment around schools and communities important.
Parents can ask schools how food is prepared and stored, what foods are commonly sold to children and whether clean water and handwashing facilities are available.
Children can also be taught simple food-safety habits themselves. Washing their hands before eating, recognising spoiled food and understanding why some foods need refrigeration are practical lessons that can remain useful throughout life.
Read the label, but look beyond the front of the package
Food labels can help parents make better-informed choices.
Before buying packaged food for a child, parents can check the ingredient list, nutritional information, sugar and salt content, expiry date, storage instructions and allergen information where applicable.
Marketing language on the front of a package can make a product appear healthier than it actually is. A product promoted as containing fruit, vitamins or whole grains may still contain substantial amounts of sugar, salt or other ingredients parents may want to limit.
This is one reason governments and public-health organisations around the world are increasingly looking at nutrition labelling and restrictions on food marketing directed at children. UNICEF has called for stronger food-environment policies, including healthier school food environments, food marketing restrictions and clearer labelling.
Parents should build habits, not fear around food
Monitoring children’s diets does not mean making children afraid of food.
The aim should be to establish healthy routines in which nutritious foods are normal, water is readily available, food is prepared safely and highly processed snacks and sugary drinks do not routinely replace balanced meals.
Parents can involve children in choosing fruits and vegetables, preparing simple meals, reading labels and learning basic kitchen hygiene. These experiences can help children understand food rather than simply being told what they cannot eat.
It is also important to consider a child’s age and developmental stage. Younger children have different nutritional needs from adolescents, while babies and toddlers may face additional food-safety and choking risks.
The responsibility goes beyond the family kitchen
Parents have an important role, but they cannot solve the global child nutrition challenge alone.
Children’s diets are shaped by household income, food prices, school meals, advertising, local food availability, public policy and the products placed within easy reach of children.
UNICEF has called for stronger action to make nutritious foods more accessible and affordable, improve school food environments, strengthen social protection and protect children from unhealthy food marketing.
For families, however, there are still practical steps that can make a difference.
Before a child takes a bite, parents can ask a few simple questions: Is this food safe? What nutrients does it provide? How often is my child eating it? Is it replacing something more nutritious? And was it prepared and stored safely?
Those questions bring food safety and healthy eating into the same conversation, and help children develop habits that support their health as they grow.
