Getting your children used to drinking water at a young age can prevent weight gain problems later on. No phase of life is as formative as the first few years. This also applies when it comes to developing preferences for food and drink. Most drinks on the market are too sweet to quench your thirst. Drunk on the side, they provide the body with additional unnecessary calories. According to the World Health Organization (WHO ), 60 percent of the world’s population is already considered overweight or even morbidly obese.
Development of taste preferences
The first imprinting of some taste preferences already takes place in the womb. If the mother eats or drinks intensely flavored food or drinks, the unborn child will show clear emotional stimulation in the last weeks of pregnancy. Immediately after birth, babies react positively in their facial expressions and gestures to the sweet taste and sweet smell. The preference for sweets is innate.
The aversion to bitter-tasting foods and drinks is also innate. This is justified purely for evolutionary reasons. The sweet-tasting fruits of nature were a healthy and energizing source of food for our ancestors. At that time, energy intake was an important survival factor. In contrast, bitter-tasting foods from nature, such as some berries or mushrooms, turned out to be inedible or even poisonous. The preference for bitter foods or drinks is only learned in the course of life.
Increase preference for water
At a young age, the perception of taste is even more intense. It is therefore advisable not to sweeten, salt or season food and drinks for children unnecessarily. Children can only develop preferences for foods and drinks that they are offered repeatedly. The example set by parents or nursery school teachers plays a major role in this. If drinking water is exemplified as a matter of course, children will find it easier to like the pure, less intense-tasting water.
The best thirst quenchers for children are water and unsweetened fruit or herbal teas. If children refuse pure water, red fruit teas are a great alternative, because children love colors. A small dash of pure fruit juice in the water can also increase the desire to drink water, both visually and in terms of taste. For younger children in particular, how water is presented to them can be very important. A favorite glass or a colorful cup, a drinking bottle with a great motif, a water tapping station or a drinking water bubbler in the kitchen link drinking water with positive stimuli and activities. This also increases the pleasure of drinking pure water.
Drinking water takes care
The European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) states that pure water is the best thirst quencher for children. In Europe, children and adolescents currently only get less than half of their daily fluid intake from drinking or mineral water. Water as a drink would be a very simple plus for health. The so-called DONALD study (Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed) examines nutritional behavior in childhood and its effects up to adulthood.
The study started back in the 1980s at the Dortmund Research Institute of Child Nutrition (FKE) and is now based at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Bonn. In the study, there were repeated indications of the early imprinting of drinking behavior. If lemonades, cola drinks, sweetened iced teas or ready-made smoothies are used as thirst quenchers, the increased energy intake inevitably leads to weight gain. Those who are introduced to drinking water at an early age can counteract weight gain later on.
A tip to make drinking water more fun: For children, drinking water can become an experience if the water is constantly rediscovered. The “infused water ” trend is providing plenty of variety. With small pieces of fruit or a few leaves of mint or lemon balm in the water jug, the water looks visually exciting and tastes more interesting for children.
Bildquelle: cottonbro von Pexels
