Harmful chocolate: is it okay for children and what kind

By the age of 8, a child eats more sugar than an adult ate (not so long ago - 100 years ago) in a lifetime! In the UK, where one in five children is overweight, scientists conducted a large-scale study. The essence was that parents all year recorded what their children ate. It turned out that instead of the permissible 20-25 g of sugar (4-5 teaspoons) a day, children ate three times as much.⠀

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Much has been written about the harm of excessive sugar intake. Often its excessive intake into the body leads to overweight, which becomes the cause of ridicule by peers at school, and this can affect the psychological state of the child. ⠀⠀

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The maximum amount of sugar for five-year-olds per day is up to 20 g (4 teaspoons), while children between 6 and 10 years old can consume on average up to 25 g (5 teaspoons) and 11-year-olds a maximum of 30 g (6 teaspoons). This refers to the sugar content of all foods consumed in a day.⠀⠀

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Is it okay for children to eat chocolate.⠀

Yes, but in small amounts. For a child of 3 years - no more than 5 g, from 4-5 years of age - 10-15 g.⠀ ⠀

The quality of chocolate is determined by the percentage of cocoa in it. The higher it is, the better the quality of chocolate and the healthier it is. Milk chocolate has about 28% cocoa, while dark chocolate has 70% to 90% cocoa. Sugar is added to chocolate, but the more cocoa there is, the less sugar there is, so chocolate tastes bitter and therefore children do not like it very much.⠀

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You should not be too fond of chocolate also because it can cause allergic reactions. In addition, the sugar it contains should be taken into account in the child's total daily diet.⠀ ⠀