Parents across the globe are reporting an increasingly difficult battle to protect their children's diets, as the proliferation of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and fast-food outlets, often positioned directly outside school gates, becomes a universal challenge. A landmark study published in The Lancet this month has issued a stark warning, stating that these foods are exposing millions to long-term health risks and demanding urgent action.
A Worldwide Dietary Shift
The consumption of UPFs is rising on every continent, systematically replacing fresh food in diets. While these products constitute more than half the average diet in western nations like the UK and the US, their incursion is accelerating rapidly in low- and middle-income countries. This trend is underscored by a recent Unicef report revealing that, for the first time, more children globally are obese than underweight.
Professor Carlos Monteiro of the University of São Paulo, a co-author of the Lancet series, argues that profit-driven corporations, rather than individual choice, are the primary force behind this dangerous shift in eating habits. For families, this translates to a feeling that the entire food system is stacked against them.
Nepal: An Uphill Struggle Against Aggressive Marketing
Manita Pyakurel, who works with the Nepal Non-Communicable Disease Alliance, describes raising her eight-year-old daughter as "trying to swim against the current." Despite cooking at home, her child is bombarded by brightly packaged snacks, sugary drinks, and persuasive TV adverts the moment she steps outside. The school environment exacerbates the problem, with a canteen serving sweetened juice, peers sharing biscuits on the bus, and a chip shop stationed right outside the school gate.
Data confirms this troubling reality: the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2022 found that 69% of children aged 6-23 months eat unhealthy foods, and 43% consume sweetened beverages. A local study in Lalitpur district linked regular consumption of sweet and savoury snacks to high rates of tooth decay and reported that 18.6% of schoolchildren were overweight, with 7.1% obese.
St Vincent and the Grenadines: Climate Crisis Compounds Food Crisis
For Arlene Williams-Jack, a food nutrition teacher, the struggle is intensified by the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl. The disaster devastated local vegetation, making fresh, healthy food scarce and expensive. Even before the hurricane, the islands witnessed a troubling shift from a diet of local produce to a preference for greasy, salty, and sugary fast food, now sold even in village shops.
Juggling work and parenting, she admits the convenience of giving children money for school snacks, despite knowing the tuck shops primarily stock UPFs and sugary sodas. She fears this reality is fuelling an epidemic of lifestyle diseases like type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Uganda, India, and Kenya: A Universal Story of Temptation and Resistance
In Kampala, Uganda, journalist Patience Akumu finds international chains like KFC and local outlets such as Café Javas have become symbols of sophistication and celebration. Her children report peers packing fast food for school lunches, presenting a constant challenge to the home-cooked meals she prepares.
In India, Amoolya Rajappa describes a constant negotiation with her daughter over ice-cream and chocolates, amplified by indulgent grandparents and strategic product placement at supermarket checkouts. She feels a profound sense of helplessness, noting the lack of affordable, wholesome snack options in the market.
In Kenya, Peter Muiruri recounts how his son, at age nine, was hooked after one taste of instant noodles shared by friends. The boy later attempted to smuggle packets into the shopping trolley. Muiruri links the appeal of such "exotic treats" to serious health risks, citing a medical briefing where eye doctors found type 2 diabetes, rooted in poor diet, behind many young people's eyesight issues.
The Call for Systemic Change
The testimonies from Nepal, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Uganda, India, and Kenya paint a consistent picture: parents are engaged in a daily, exhausting conflict against a food environment that normalises unhealthy eating. The solution, they stress, cannot rely on individual willpower alone. There is an urgent need for stronger public health policies, healthier school environments, and stricter regulations on the marketing of ultra-processed foods to children. Until systemic changes are made, families worldwide will continue to fight this battle—one biscuit packet, one smuggled noodle pack, and one fast-food craving at a time.
