Ok to the homemade snack like a tart or a donut, but watch out for the portions that risk being too abundant
We have prepared a homemade dessert for the snack of our children. Ok, but how much can they eat? Even in home snacks, portions are important to define the quantities of calories, sugars and saturated fats that our children consume. Let's try to understand more with the results of the research BVA Doxa – Italian Food Union (the association that represents the main Italian companies producing snacks and which for years has been carrying out an information campaign on the site www.merendineitaliane.it) -, entitled "Portioning of non-packaged desserts for mothers and children 'snacks " and carried out on a representative sample of 600 mothers of children aged 5 to 13.
The risk of a home snack: large portions and encores
According to the study, most Italian mothers are unable to locate the weight of the portion of a jam tart or a donut given to their children. And the risk is to abound in the quantities of the snack.
There half of mothers (49%) can't indicate how much this portion might weigh, 30% gives the wrong weight while only 2 in 10 mothers (21%) indovine (more or less) the correct weight of the portion chosen for their child. Perhaps also due to this difficulty in assessing the weight, in fact the portions become exaggeratedly abundant. In fact, 7 out of 10 mothers choose (without knowing it) slices of about 100-120 grams in the case of the tart (96 grams the average) and about 90-120 grams for the donut (with an average of 84 grams).
In addition, 1 in 3 mothers (30%) is used to it to do an encore to their children. The research also revealed that the portion of tart and donut that mothers choose for them is, surprisingly, the same one they choose for their children. Also in this case by overestimating the caloric needs that their children have compared to the time of the snack.
Moving on to snacks, mothers are more prepared: 6 out of 10 moms (58%) they read the label and know that the portion of an Italian snack is less than 50 grams (about 35).
The importance of portions
A 96-gram serving of jam tart – aka the medium one – has a calorie content of 317 kcal and contains 27 grams of sugars, 7.8 grams of fat, of which 5 are saturated (Food chemical composition of CREA).
An 84 gram slice of donut – the one cut on average by Italian mothers for their children – has a calorie content of about 310 kcal, 20 grams of sugars, 14.3 grams of fat, of which about 5.3 saturated (Fatsecret data).
The snack, in the predetermined portion, on average 35 grams, ccontains approx 6.5 grams of fat, of which 3 saturated, 9 grams of sugar, for an average calorie content per portion equal to 157 kcal.
"A slice of jam tart or ciambellone are excellent alternatives for the snack of the youngest even compared to snacks – commented the nutritionist Valeria Del Balzo – however, they should be "calibrated", which is not generally done, based on age and caloric needs and above all differentiated in terms of weight between an adult or youth consumption. In this context the plus of packaged desserts, which can be eaten 1-2 times a week, is to have a pre-established and nutritionally balanced portion ".
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