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The menace of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is a worldwide phenomenon. While their consumption is especially elevated in the west, forming over 50% the average diet in places such as the United Kingdom and United States, for example, UPFs are displacing whole foods in diets on every continent.

This month, an extensive international analysis on the risks to physical condition of UPFs was issued. It cautioned that such foods are subjecting millions of people to chronic damage, and demanded immediate measures. Earlier this year, a major children's agency revealed that a greater number of youngsters around the world were suffering from obesity than malnourished for the first time, as unhealthy snacks floods diets, with the steepest rises 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 study's contributors, says that profit-driven corporations, not individual choices, are driving the shift in eating patterns.

For parents, it can appear that the whole nutritional landscape is working against them. “On occasion it feels like we have no authority over what we are putting on our kid’s plate,” says one mother from South Asia. We spoke to her and four other parents from across the globe on the increasing difficulties and annoyances of supplying a healthy diet in the time of manufactured foods.

In Nepal: Battling a Child's Desire for Packaged Snacks

Nurturing a child in the Himalayan nation today often feels like fighting a losing battle, especially when it comes to food. I prepare meals at home as much as I can, but the moment my daughter steps outside, she is encircled by brightly packaged snacks and sugar-laden liquids. She constantly craves cookies, chocolates and processed juice drinks – products heavily marketed to children. Just one pizza commercial on TV is sufficient for her to ask, “Is it possible to eat pizza today?”

Even the school environment reinforces unhealthy habits. Her canteen serves sugary juice every Tuesday, which she looks forward to. She gets a small package of biscuits 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 entire food environment is undermining parents who are simply trying to raise fit youngsters.

As someone working in the Nepal Non-Communicable Disease Alliance and heading a project called Encouraging Nutritious Meals in Education, I comprehend this issue profoundly. Yet even with my expertise, keeping my young child healthy is incredibly difficult.

These constant encounters at school, in transit and online make it almost unfeasible for parents to limit ultra-processed foods. It is not only about what kids pick; it is about a nutritional framework that normalises and advocates for unhealthy eating.

And the figures shows clearly what families like mine are going through. A recent national survey found that 69% of children between six and 23 months ate poor dietary items, and nearly half were already drinking sweetened beverages.

These statistics are reflected in what I see every day. Research conducted in the region where I live reported that almost one in five of schoolchildren were overweight and more than seven percent were clinically overweight, figures strongly correlated with the increase in unhealthy snacking and more sedentary lifestyles. Further research showed that many youngsters of the country eat sugary treats or manufactured savory snacks nearly every day, and this frequent intake is tied to high levels of oral health problems.

Nepal urgently needs stronger policies, healthier school environments and tougher advertising controls. Before that happens, families will continue engaging in an ongoing struggle against processed items – one biscuit packet at a time.

Caribbean Challenges: When Fast Food Becomes the Default

My position is a bit different as I was had to evacuate from an island in our chain of islands that was devastated by a powerful storm last year. But it is also part of the stark reality that is affecting parents in a part of the world that is experiencing the gravest consequences of global warming.

“The situation definitely becomes more severe if a hurricane or volcano activity destroys most of your vegetation.”

Even before the storm, as a food nutrition and health teacher, I was very worried about the increasing proliferation of fast food restaurants. Today, even smaller village shops are complicit in the change of a country once known for a diet of fresh regional fruits and vegetables, to one where greasy, salty, sugary fast food, loaded with artificial ingredients, is the preference.

But the condition definitely worsens if a hurricane or mountain activity decimates most of your produce. Fresh, healthy food becomes scarce and very expensive, so it is exceptionally hard to get your kids to eat right.

Despite having a steady job I flinch at food prices now and have often opted for picking one of items such as legumes and pulses and meat and eggs when feeding my four children. Offering reduced portions or smaller servings have also become part of the recovery survival methods.

Also it is rather simple when you are balancing a challenging career with parenting, and hurrying about in the morning, to just give the children a little money to buy snacks at school. Sadly, most campus food stalls only offer highly packaged treats and sweet fizzy drinks. The result of these difficulties, I fear, is an increase in the already widespread prevalence of non-communicable illnesses such as adult-onset diabetes and cardiovascular strain.

The Allure of Fast Food in Uganda

The logo of a international restaurant franchise stands prominently at the entrance of a commercial complex in a Kampala neighbourhood, tempting you to pass by without stopping at the drive-through.

Many of the kids and caregivers visiting the mall have never gone beyond the borders of this East African nation. They certainly don’t know about the bygone era of hardship that led the founder to start one of the first American international food chains. All they know is that the brand name represent all things sophisticated.

In every mall and every market, there is quick-service cuisine for every pocket. As one of the more expensive options, the fried chicken chain is considered a special occasion. It is the place city residents go to observe 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 Christmas.

“Mother, do you know that some people take fried chicken for school lunch,” my adolescent child, 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 cooked morning dishes to burgers.

It is Friday evening, and I am only {half-listening|