Parents of children with autism who are on special diets have the support of a university nutritionist, who is calling for stores to be banned from placing snacks and sweets next to tills.
Many children with autism are put on special and low-sugar diets because of gut or behavioural issues. Their parents report that they often encounter problems at store checkouts, with a number of big retailers being in the habit of using the area to display sugar-laden sweets and snacks.
The children may want these treats, but can’t have them because they infringe on the special diet. A shopping expedition can turn into a highly stressful experience.
The parents have the support of Mel Wakeman, a senior lecturer in nutrition and applied physiology at Birmingham City University. She is calling for the placing of sweets, chocolates and crisps at till points to be made illegal.
She said: “If the government has banned cigarettes from being on display, it’s about time the same principle was applied to unhealthy snacks, which we can see are having a direct impact on our NHS services.”
Gillian Loughran, editor of Autism Eye, said retailers needed to make stores ‘family friendly’ for ‘all’ families. In Loughran’s view, retailers should pay more attention to ways in which the practice could have a negative impact on sales.
Loughran, who has a son with autism, said: “We parents are venturing into stores to buy the likes of ‘Free From’ products for our children, yet we encounter stress when we pay for them at a till laden with the very products our children want and cannot have. This is my experience and it makes shopping more stressful than it should be.”
Wakeman said: “The UK is a captive junk food market and stores need to have more socially responsible marketing policies.”
She added: “The situation is difficult for all parents, but parents of children with autism on special diets need support in making healthy choices. Stores need to address this and need to accept responsibility.”
In 2014, Tesco and Lidl banned sweets from counters. Wakeman reports that she has written to stores and has received responses from Marks & Spencer, Asda and WHSmith, but has yet to receive a reply from Sainsbury’s.
She described the response from Marks & Spencer and WHSmith as “very disappointing”. She accused some stores of making “huge assumptions about their customers’ requirements and habits”.
Wakeman said the government needed to address the issue. Children and teenagers were now consuming 40 per cent more added sugar than the daily recommended allowance and there were increasing rates of diabetes, high blood sugar and signs of heart disease in children.
Published: 28 March 2015
