Eating a balanced diet full of lots of fresh fruit and vegetables is essential in order for us to grow up big and strong – and if you’re looking for proof of this, check out this new study from Imperial College London, suggesting that highly variable nutrition during childhood (especially a lack of quality food) could see kids having to deal with stunted growth and obesity, affecting their health and wellbeing for the rest of their lives.

In the UK, global height ranking has worsened over the last 35 years, with 19-year-old boys going from being the 28th tallest in 1985 to 39th in 2019. And 19-year-old girls went from 42nd to 49th over the same timeframe.

It was found that in many countries, children aged five had a healthy height and weight, but after the age of five, youngsters in some nations saw too small an increase in height, while gaining too much weight. This was put down to a lack of adequate and healthy nutrition and living environment during school years.

Lead author of the study Dr Andrea Rodriguez Martinez said: “Our findings should motivate policies that increase the availability and reduce the cost of nutritious foods, as this will help children grow taller without gaining excessive weight for their height.

“These initiatives include food vouchers towards nutritious foods for low-income families, and free healthy school meal programmes which are particularly under threat during the pandemic.”

We here at Rebelicious Sauces are really concerned with children’s health and we know that there are all sorts of ways you can encourage healthy eating habits at home, whether that’s through having regular family meals, serving a variety of different foods and snacks, leading by example and eating healthily yourself and involving your children in the cooking process.

Mealtimes don’t need to be a struggle and they can be an awful lot of fun, so why not start by giving your kids a few options for mealtimes and letting them choose what they’d like to cook and eat? Fostering an interest in cooking early on can lead to healthy habits as adults – and it’s a great opportunity to spend some quality time together as a family, as well.

Check out our delicious low sugar pasta sauce in our online shop.