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The plague of highly processed food items is an international crisis. Even though their intake is especially elevated in developed countries, constituting over 50% the typical food intake in the UK and the US, for example, UPFs are displacing whole foods in diets on each part of the world.

Recently, a comprehensive global study on the health threats of UPFs was issued. It warned that such foods are leaving millions of people to persistent health issues, and demanded immediate measures. Earlier this year, a major children's agency revealed that more children around the world were obese than too thin for the historic moment, as unhealthy snacks dominates diets, with the most dramatic increases in low- and middle-income countries.

Carlos Monteiro, an academic specializing in dietary health at the University of São Paulo, and one of the study's contributors, says that businesses motivated by financial gain, not personal decisions, are propelling the shift in eating patterns.

For parents, it can appear that the complete dietary environment is working against them. “Sometimes it feels like we have no authority over what we are putting on our child's dish,” says one mother from South Asia. We conversed with her and four other parents from around the world on the growing challenges and irritations of ensuring a healthy diet in the era of ultra-processing.

The Situation in Nepal: A Constant Craving for Sweets

Raising a child in this South Asian country today often feels like fighting a losing battle, especially when it comes to food. I cook at home as much as I can, but the second my daughter goes out, she is encircled by vibrantly wrapped snacks and sugar-laden liquids. She persistently desires cookies, chocolates and packaged fruit juices – products intensively promoted to children. One solitary pizza commercial on TV is enough for her to ask, “Can we have pizza today?”

Even the academic atmosphere encourages unhealthy habits. Her school lunchroom serves sweetened fruit juice every Tuesday, which she anxiously anticipates. She receives a six-piece biscuit pack from a friend on the school bus and chocolates on birthdays, and faces a chip shop right outside her school gate.

At times it feels like the entire food environment is working against parents who are simply trying to raise healthy children.

As someone associated with the Nepal Non-Communicable Disease Alliance and leading a project called Encouraging Nutritious Meals in Education, I comprehend this issue profoundly. Yet even with my expertise, keeping my eight-year-old daughter healthy is exceptionally hard.

These constant encounters at school, in transit and online make it almost unfeasible for parents to limit ultra-processed foods. It is not simply about children’s choices; it is about a nutritional framework that normalises and promotes unhealthy eating.

And the data shows clearly what families like mine are facing. A demographic health study found that a significant majority of children between six and 23 months ate poor dietary items, and 43% were already drinking flavored liquids.

These statistics are reflected in what I see every day. A study conducted in the area where I live reported that 18.6% of schoolchildren were above a healthy size and more than seven percent were clinically overweight, figures strongly correlated with the increase in processed food intake and more sedentary lifestyles. Another study showed that many Nepali children eat sweet snacks or processed savoury foods on a regular basis, and this habitual eating is linked to high levels of tooth decay.

This nation urgently needs tighter rules, improved educational settings and more stringent promotion limits. Before that happens, families will continue waging a constant war against junk food – one biscuit packet at a time.

St Vincent and the Grenadines: ‘Greasy, Salty, Sugary Fast Food is the Preference’

My circumstances is a bit unique as I was compelled to move from an island in our chain of islands that was devastated by a severe cyclone last year. But it is also part of the bleak situation that is affecting parents in a part of the world that is enduring the most severe impacts of climate change.

“Conditions definitely deteriorates if a cyclone or volcanic eruption wipes out most of your vegetation.”

Prior to the storm, as a dietary educator, I was very worried about the increasing proliferation of quick-service eateries. Currently, even community markets are complicit in the shift of a country once characterized by a diet of fresh regional fruits and vegetables, to one where oily, salted, sweetened fast food, loaded with synthetic components, is the choice.

But the scenario definitely worsens if a natural disaster or volcanic eruption destroys most of your vegetation. Unprocessed ingredients becomes scarce and extremely pricey, so it is exceptionally hard to get your kids to consume healthy meals.

Regardless of having a steady job I flinch at food prices now and have often resorted to choosing between items such as vegetables 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 demanding job with parenting, and hurrying about in the morning, to just give the children a couple of coins to buy snacks at school. Regrettably, most campus food stalls only offer highly packaged treats and sweet fizzy drinks. The outcome of these difficulties, I fear, is an increase in the already alarming levels of chronic conditions such as blood sugar disorders and hypertension.

Kampala's Landscape: A Fast-Food Dominated Environment

The symbol of a major fried chicken chain stands prominently at the entrance of a shopping center in a Kampala neighbourhood, challenging you to pass by without stopping at the drive-through.

Many of the kids and caregivers visiting the mall have never ventured outside the borders of the country. They certainly don’t know about the historical economic crisis that led the founder to start one of the first worldwide restaurant networks. All they know is that the famous acronym represent all things modern.

At each shopping center and each trading place, there is quick-service cuisine for every pocket. As one of the pricier selections, the fried chicken chain is considered a special occasion. It is the place Kampala’s families go to celebrate birthdays and baptisms. It is the children’s prize when they get a favorable grades. In fact, they are hoping their parents take them there for the holidays.

“Mum, do you know that some people bring fast food for school lunch,” my 14-year-old daughter, 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 regional restaurant brand selling everything from fried breakfasts to burgers.

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