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The menace of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is truly global. Although their intake is notably greater in developed countries, constituting the majority of the average diet in the UK and the US, for example, UPFs are replacing natural ingredients in diets on each part of the world.

This month, a comprehensive global study on the health threats of UPFs was issued. It cautioned that such foods are subjecting millions of people to persistent health issues, and called for immediate measures. Previously in the year, a major children's agency revealed that an increased count of kids around the world were suffering from obesity than underweight for the first time, as unhealthy snacks overwhelms diets, with the sharpest climbs in low- and middle-income countries.

A leading public health expert, an academic specializing in dietary health at the a prominent Brazilian university, and one of the study's contributors, says that companies focused on earnings, not personal decisions, are fueling the change in habits.

For parents, it can appear that the whole nutritional landscape is working against them. “On occasion it feels like we have zero control over what we are serving on our child's dish,” says one mother from the Indian subcontinent. We interviewed her and four other parents from around the world on the expanding hurdles and irritations of providing a nutritious food regimen 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 trying to swim against the current, especially when it comes to food. I cook at home as much as I can, but the second my daughter leaves the house, she is bombarded with brightly packaged snacks and sweetened beverages. She constantly craves cookies, chocolates and processed juice drinks – products aggressively advertised to children. A single pizza commercial on TV is all it takes for her to ask, “Can we have pizza today?”

Even the academic atmosphere reinforces unhealthy habits. Her canteen serves sweetened fruit juice every Tuesday, which she eagerly awaits. She gets a six-piece biscuit pack from a friend on the school bus and chocolates on birthdays, and faces a french fry stand right outside her school gate.

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

As someone working in the an organization fighting chronic illnesses and heading a project called Encouraging Nutritious Meals in Education, I comprehend this issue thoroughly. Yet even with my knowledge, keeping my young child healthy is extremely challenging.

These constant encounters at school, in transit and online make it nearly impossible for parents to limit ultra-processed foods. It is not just about children’s choices; it is about a nutritional framework that encourages and fosters unhealthy eating.

And the figures reflects exactly what parents in my situation are going through. A demographic health study found that over two-thirds of children between six and 23 months ate poor dietary items, and a substantial portion were already drinking sugary drinks.

These figures echo what I see every day. Research 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 junk food consumption and increasingly inactive lifestyles. Further research showed that many Nepali children eat sweet snacks or processed savoury foods almost daily, and this habitual eating is tied to high levels of dental cavities.

The country urgently needs more robust regulations, healthier school environments and more stringent promotion limits. In the meantime, families will continue fighting a daily battle against processed items – a single cookie pack at a time.

Caribbean Challenges: When Fast Food Becomes the Default

My position is a bit different as I was forced to relocate from an island in our group of isles that was devastated by a powerful storm last year. But it is also part of the bleak situation that is confronting parents in a part of the world that is feeling the gravest consequences of environmental shifts.

“Conditions definitely deteriorates if a hurricane or mountain explosion destroys most of your crops.”

Prior to the storm, as a nutrition instructor, I was extremely troubled about the increasing proliferation of convenience food outlets. Today, even local corner stores are complicit in the transformation of a country once defined by a diet of fresh regional fruits and vegetables, to one where oily, salted, sweetened fast food, full of synthetic components, is the preference.

But the situation definitely intensifies if a hurricane or geological event decimates most of your produce. Fresh, healthy food becomes hard to find and very expensive, so it is really difficult to get your kids to eat right.

Regardless of having a stable employment I flinch at food prices now and have often turned to picking one of items such as vegetables and animal products when feeding my four children. Providing less food 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 rushing around in the morning, to just give the children a couple of coins to buy snacks at school. Sadly, most educational snack bars only offer ultra-processed snacks and sweet fizzy drinks. The outcome of these challenges, I fear, is an growth in the already alarming levels of chronic conditions such as blood sugar disorders and cardiovascular strain.

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

The logo of a international restaurant franchise towers conspicuously at the entrance of a commercial complex in a urban area, 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 inspired the founder to start one of the first American international food chains. All they know is that the three letters represent all things desirable.

At each shopping center and all local bazaars, there is convenience meals for every pocket. As one of the costlier choices, the fried chicken chain is considered a treat. It is the place city residents 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 Christmas.

“Mum, do you know that some people take takeaway 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 popular east African fast-food chain selling everything from cooked morning dishes to burgers.

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