Pediatricians urge Indonesian parents to watch for disguised sugar on food labels
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- IDAI warns that sugar is often disguised on children’s food labels and urges parents to read ingredient lists carefully.
- The pediatric group says hidden sugar derivatives can indicate ultra-processed foods, which are associated with long-term health risks.
- IDAI advises parents to watch marketing claims like “no added sugar,” check total sugar and salt, and prioritize real, minimally processed foods.
The Indonesian Pediatric Society (IDAI) has urged parents to stay alert to sugar content that is frequently disguised in children’s food products.
Speaking during a webinar monitored in Jakarta on Tuesday, IDAI Central Executive Board Chair Dr. Piprim Basarah Yanuarso, a pediatrician and cardiology subspecialist, said certain ingredients are often “masked” on packaged food labels—especially sugar.
“Labels are a tool to protect our children from unhealthy food intake that can slowly make them ill. And when it comes to the ingredient composition on labels, what we must watch out for most is sugar content,” Piprim said.
He noted that sugar-derived ingredients come in an increasingly long list of variants, making them harder for parents to recognize and understand. For that reason, he said, labels on packaged foods need to be read more carefully.
Parents, he added, must be able to control what their children consume, as some foods frequently advertised on television may appear healthy even though the contents do not match what is portrayed.
Piprim went on to say that sugar often disguised under derivative names can push foods into the category of ultra-processed food (UPF), which studies have linked to a range of health problems.
“In the latest pyramid from the United States, we can already see how ultra-processed food has become a type of food that needs to be watched and given cautiously to our children,” he said.
Beyond sugar, he also advised parents to be cautious about “no added sugar” claims, total sugar content, salt, as well as products marketed as supplements.
He added that health conditions increasingly found among children and teenagers—such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, dyslipidemia and high blood sugar—may be driven by unhealthy diets and lifestyles.
“Choosing and carefully reading food labels for our children is one effort we all can take, including parents, to protect children from the risk of lifestyle diseases that are actually preventable—one of the ways is by paying attention to what they consume. Of course, real food is best so children can grow up healthy,” he concluded.
Indonesianpost.com | Antara
