A child welfare group has found that over 20 percent of Taiwanese children eat ice products at least twice a week, warning that frequent consumption of these high-calorie summer delicacies could lead to obesity.
Nutritionists said since it is difficult for kids -- and even adults -- to resist the temptations of ice cream and other ice products, parents could try adding fruit into milk or yogurt, so their kids can still enjoy healthy and "cool" desserts during hot and humid summers. Following are excerpts of some major Taiwanese newspapers' reports on the issue:
China Times: The Child Welfare League Foundation, after surveying more than 2,000 school children across the island, found that more than 20 percent of them enjoy ice products every two or three days or even every day. Their favorite ice products are, in ranking order, ice cream, popsicles and Slurpees, according to the foundation.
As many as 86 percent of the polled pupils think ice products help quench their thirst, but the league says ice products actually increase thirst. More worrisome is that most parents and children are not aware of the high calories contained in the ice products.
For example, a 680 ml (c.c.) cup of Slurpee carries 523 kilo-calories -- almost twice as much as a bowl of rice. Most of the kids' favorite brands of ice products contains 200 or more kilo- calories. Not only are children heavy consumers of ice products, 85 percent of parents often buy ice products, freezing them in refrigerators, with 18 percent of them sharing these cold items with their young ones.
Some 60 percent of the students say their moms and dads never or rarely limit their consumption of ice products, said the foundation. Wang Yu-min, CEO of the foundation, said the survey further found that ice-lovers' BMI (body mass index) is nearly twice of those who do not eat ice products often.
And more than 50 percent of frequent consumers of ice products also have the habit of loving other sweet drinks, with 34 percent of the surveyed kids drinking a bottle or a can of sweet beverage and 40 percent choosing drinks over water to quench thirst.
Weng Hui-ling, a nutritionist at National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital, said over consumption of ice products could lead to two extremes.
At one end, ice lovers' appetite for normal food may be reduced, leading to abnormal eating habits and malnutrition, which impedes a child's growth. On the other end, ice products could prompt excessive eating, in which case a "victim" takes in too much sugar and calories, and gains weight, sometimes even resulting in metabolism troubles.
Weng said if a child eats too many ice products too hastily, he or she may get headaches and digestion system illnesses. She recommended some alternative recipes for parents. One possible way is to put small cuts of fruit into ice cubes, pour in milk or yogurt, but do not add any sugar. After it freezes, it becomes a healthy, low-calorie "fruit popsicle."
Other traditional Taiwanese summer desserts such as herbal jellos, red or mung bean soup, and lotus seed with tree fungus (Jew's ear) soup are also healthy alternatives to fat- and sugar-rich ice products, she added. (Aug. 15, 2011)
The United Daily News: The Child Welfare League Foundation, which conducted the survey on fifth- and sixth-graders across Taiwan, called on parents to act as children's "health guards" so the younger generation will not become "hollow carrots."
Foundation CEO Wang Yu-min said 46 percent of the calories from a fried potato comes from fat, while fat shoots up to nearly 60 percent for ice cream. "So we shouldn't be fooled by lean and cool looking ice products that are more greasy and oily than fried potato," Wang said.
A good replacement is a "fruit popsicle" recommended by NTU Hospital nutritionist Weng Hui-ling, who demonstrated by making pineapple, mango and kiwi popsicles with milk and yogurt, without adding any sugar. (Aug. 15, 2011)
Liberty Times: The Child Welfare League Foundation found that more than half of students eat ice products immediately after finishing exercise, 42 percent of them do so when hungry, and 21 percent of girls do so even during their menstrual cycles.
Sixty percent of those polled have experienced coughing after eating ice products and nearly half of them have suffered from headache after "enjoying" ice products.
NTU Hospital's Weng said the "ice cream headache" might have been caused by the rapid contraction of blood vessels following the intake of ice products, which cuts down the flow of blood into the brain. She advised people to refrain from eating ice-based products immediately