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The scourge of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is a worldwide phenomenon. While their consumption is especially elevated in developed countries, constituting over 50% the usual nourishment in nations like Britain and America, for example, UPFs are replacing natural ingredients in diets on each part of the world.

This month, the world’s largest review on the dangers to well-being of UPFs was published. It alerted that such foods are exposing millions of people to chronic damage, and urged immediate measures. Earlier this year, a global fund for children revealed that more children around the world were suffering from obesity than too thin for the initial instance, as processed edibles floods diets, with the sharpest climbs in low- and middle-income countries.

A noted nutrition professor, professor of public health nutrition at the University of São Paulo, and one of the review's authors, says that profit-driven corporations, not individual choices, are propelling the change in habits.

For parents, it can feel like the entire food system is undermining them. “Sometimes it feels like we have absolutely no power over what we are serving on our child's dish,” says one mother from the Indian subcontinent. We conversed with her and four other parents from across the globe on the increasing difficulties and irritations of ensuring a balanced nourishment in the age of UPFs.

Nepal: ‘She Craves Cookies, Chocolate and Juice’

Bringing up a child in the Himalayan nation today often feels like trying to swim against the current, especially when it comes to food. I make food at home as much as I can, but the moment my daughter steps outside, she is surrounded by vibrantly wrapped snacks and sweetened beverages. She constantly craves cookies, chocolates and bottled fruit beverages – products heavily marketed to children. Just one pizza commercial on TV is enough for her to ask, “Are we getting pizza today?”

Even the school environment perpetuates unhealthy habits. Her cafeteria serves flavored drink every Tuesday, which she looks forward to. She is given a six-piece biscuit pack from a friend on the school bus and chocolates on birthdays, and encounters a chip shop right outside her school gate.

On certain occasions it feels like the whole nutritional ecosystem is working against parents who are simply trying to raise healthy children.

As someone working in the Nepal Non-Communicable Disease Alliance and heading a project called Promoting Healthy Foods in Schools, I understand this issue deeply. Yet even with my expertise, keeping my school-age girl healthy is exceptionally hard.

These repeated exposures at school, in transit and online make it next to unattainable for parents to curb ultra-processed foods. It is not only about children’s choices; it is about a dietary structure that makes standard and advocates for unhealthy eating.

And the statistics shows clearly what households such as my own are facing. A comprehensive population report found that over two-thirds of children between six and 23 months ate unhealthy foods, and nearly half were already drinking flavored liquids.

These statistics echo what I see every day. An analysis conducted in the region where I live reported that almost one in five of schoolchildren were above a healthy size and more than seven percent were suffering from obesity, figures closely associated with the increase in junk food consumption and less active lifestyles. Additional analysis showed that many Nepali children eat sugary treats or salty packaged items almost daily, and this frequent intake is linked to high levels of dental cavities.

Nepal urgently needs tighter rules, improved educational settings and more stringent promotion limits. Until then, families will continue waging a constant war against unhealthy snacks – one biscuit packet at a time.

Caribbean Challenges: When Fast Food Becomes the Default

My position is a bit unique as I was had to evacuate from an island in our chain of islands that was devastated by a major hurricane last year. But it is also part of the bleak situation that is confronting parents in a area that is enduring the gravest consequences of global warming.

“The situation definitely worsens if a hurricane or volcanic eruption wipes out most of your crops.”

Even before the storm, as a nutrition instructor, I was deeply concerned about the growing spread of convenience food outlets. Nowadays, even community markets are involved in the shift of a country once characterized by a diet of healthy locally grown fruits and vegetables, to one where fatty, briny, candied fast food, loaded with artificial ingredients, is the favorite.

But the scenario definitely intensifies if a severe weather event or geological event destroys most of your produce. Fresh, healthy food becomes scarce and extremely pricey, so it is exceptionally hard to get your kids to eat right.

Despite having a steady job I wince at food prices now and have often resorted to picking one of items such as legumes and pulses and protein sources when feeding my four children. Serving fewer meals or smaller servings have also become part of the post-disaster coping strategies.

Also it is quite convenient when you are balancing a challenging career with parenting, and scrambling in the morning, to just give the children a small amount of cash to buy snacks at school. Regrettably, most school tuck shops only offer ultra-processed snacks and sweet fizzy drinks. The result of these challenges, I fear, is an increase in the already epidemic rates of non-communicable illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Uganda: ‘It’s in Every Mall and Every Market’

The logo of a major fried chicken chain looms large at the entrance of a shopping center in a urban area, challenging you to pass by without stopping at the takeaway window.

Many of the kids and caregivers visiting the mall have never ventured outside the borders of Uganda. They certainly don’t know about the historical economic crisis that motivated the founder to start one of the first worldwide restaurant networks. All they know is that the brand name represent all things desirable.

At each shopping center and each trading place, there is quick-service cuisine for any income level. As one of the more expensive options, the fried chicken chain is considered a luxury. It is the place city residents go to celebrate birthdays and baptisms. It is the children’s reward when they get a favorable grades. In fact, they are hoping their parents take them there for festive celebrations.

“Mum, do you know that some people take fried chicken for school lunch,” my teenage girl, who attends a school in the area, tells me. She says that on the days they do not pack that, they pack food from a local quick-service outlet selling everything from morning meals to burgers.

It is the end of the week, and I am only {half-listening|