IAP Guidelines on junk food and fruit juices

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 Target group:

1. Infants and adolescents aged between 6mo - 18yrs.

2. Children with normal growth and nutrition.

3. Not applicable to malnourished or ill children

4. Do not pertain to commercial formulations and therapeutic diets.

THE JUNCS FOODS:

J - JUNK Food:

"foods (packed or non-packed, processed or non-processed) which contains little or limited presence of proteins, vitamins, phytochemicals, minerals and dietary fiber but are rich in fat (saturated fatty acids), salt and sugar and high in energy (calories) that are known to have negative impact on health if consumed regularly or in high amounts."

U - Ultra Processed Foods

"formulations of ingredients, mostly of exclusive

industrial use that result from a series of industrial processes, including fractioning of whole foods into substances (sugars, oils and fats, proteins, starches and fiber), hydrolysis or hydrogenation, food assembly, coloring and flavouring."

N - Nutritionally inappropriate foods

C- Caffeinated/colored/carbonated beverages

S - Sugar sweetened beverages

Guidelines:

General Recommendations

• Avoid consumption of the JUNCS foods and

beverages by all children and adolescents, as far as possible. 

• Alternatively, limit consumption of the JUNCS foods at home/outside and suggest to have not more than one serving per week; serving not exceeding 50% of total daily energy intake for that age. 

• Do not consume foods while watching television/ screen. 

• The Group endorses WHO guidelines to eliminate trans-fat and reduce free sugars to <5% of total energy intake. 

• Freshly cooked home foods with minimal addition of sugar and no trans-fats should be preferred over restaurant/packaged foods. 

• Traditional and acceptable home-made snacks with long shelf-line can be offered to children as alternative to the JUNCS foods. 

• Lunch boxes packed only with healthy food should be carried to school if school does not have provision of providing healthy mid-day meal. 

• The JUNCS food should not be offered as reward/gift to any child as this gives undue promotion to unhealthy foods. 

Fruit juices

• Encourage intake of regional and seasonal whole fruits over fruit juices in children and adolescents. 

• Fruit juices/fruit drinks/SSBs should not be offered to infants and young children aged below 2 years. 

• For children and adolescents (2-18 years) fruit juices, fruit drinks and SSBs should be avoided as far as possible. Water should be encouraged as the best drink and should be promoted over fruit juices/drinks at home and school. 

• Fruit juices/drinks, if given, should be limited to 125 mL per day for children aged between 2-5 years, and 250 mL per day for age >5 years; and these should preferably be given as fresh juices.