With many students returning to the classroom at the end of January dental experts from the Australian Dental Association (ADA), NSW Branch share some healthy lunchbox tips for maintaining oral and overall health.
As a father of two, ADA NSW Vice President Dr Dominic Aouad knows firsthand how hard it can be to find the extra time to pack healthy lunchboxes and how easy it can be to opt for convenient options.
However, he warns, these convenient options are often “higher in sugar than you realise” and it’s important to set “kids up for good oral health early in life”.
“We know that many popular and convenient lunchbox items are high in sugar, causing tooth decay or gum disease over time,” says Dr Aouad.
“This can lead to more invasive dental treatments for children such as fillings and early extractions and also contribute to greater hospitalisations and chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes later down the track.”
Parents may be surprised to know that for example, a lunch that includes dried apricots, a flavoured yogurt, and a fruit juice box is delivering more than double the recommended daily amount of sugar.
Limiting sugar consumption is key to preventing tooth decay, which is the most common chronic disease in childhood.
To help parents, dental experts from ADA NSW share their tips for ‘tooth-friendly lunchboxes’ – tips you can share with your customers.
Healthy lunchbox tips
- Include something from each of the five food groups including fruit/vegetables/legumes/beans, dairy, grain (cereal) foods and lean meats poultry/fish/eggs e.g., cheese sticks hard-boiled eggs.
- Replace chips, chocolates, muesli bars, and sweet biscuits with items such as fresh fruit, celery and carrot sticks, and cucumbers.
- Limit snacks that are high in sugar and/or saturated fats e.g., doughnuts.
- Pick whole fruit over fruit juice – the vitamins, minerals and fibre make it more filling and nutritious and reduce the sugar content per serve.
- Pack water as your school drink rather than sports drinks, juice, soft drinks, cordials or flavoured milk which are high in sugar. If your tap water is fluoridated even better!
- Look for grain-based snacks with whole grains and high fibre, such as whole grain bread and crackers.
- Processed snack products such as muesli and breakfast bars, chips, and cookies should be limited to one item and ideally a low-sugar choice, such as rice crackers, popcorn and cheese.
- Checking the labelling of packaged items before buying to see their real sugar content is a quick way to gauge what should be included or not in school lunchboxes.
“As well as packing a tooth-friendly lunchbox, parents should ensure their child visits a dentist at least once a year for a check-up as maintaining good oral health improves overall health outcomes for your life,” says Dr Aouad.
Brushing teeth twice a day, flossing and drinking tap water in place of other drinks are also easy ways to help protect oral health among people of all ages, says ADA NSW.
