Mulberry Tree Childcare removes sugar and seed oils from its menu aiming to ‘eliminate unhealthy food’

One of Perth’s largest childcare providers has removed refined sugar and seed oils from its menu, aiming to “eliminate unhealthy food” in response to demand from families. The changes have been rolled out across 22 Mulberry Tree and Indigo Montessori centres, after a nine month process guided by educator and functional nutritionist Emma Carroll. It comes amid growing debate about seed oils, including canola, corn and sunflower oils, which are common in processed foods and linked to inflammation. Ms Carroll said several families raised concerns about seed oils with management, prompting the decision to review the menu offered to children across the centres. “It all ties in with our holistic approach to education and our values, we want to be providing children meals that don’t have refined sugar, don’t have seed oils and are healthy and nutritious and make them feel good,” she said. “As part of our approach we wanted to eliminate unhealthy food stuffs … The research is out there, (seed oils) causes inflammation when it’s eaten in high amounts, and unfortunately it’s in many of the processed foods we eat. Cooks at the centres now use olive, coconut, avocado oils and butter instead of seed oils and fruit dates and pure maple syrup in place of sugar. “We have children who could be here five days a week, 11 hours a day, so we could be feeding them the bulk of their meals from Monday to Friday, so we want to make sure that their nutrition is high quality while they’re in our care,” Ms Carroll said. “The educators have mentioned they can notice more stable energy (in children) during the day, a calmer environment and the kids are more ready to sit down and learn at mat times.” “We have had parents specifically enrol with us because of our new menus.” Mulberry Tree project manager Leanne Polletta said the changes had doubled the company’s shopping bill. “It’s been an ongoing process, and it’s been difficult, it’s not for the faint hearted,“ she said. “A lot of families say this is how we eat at home and have told us they’re reducing seed oils as well.” Research into the impacts of seed oils is mixed, with growing concerns excessive levels of linoleic acid, which is an omega 6 polyunsaturated fat and can be found in high proportions in some seed oils, can have adverse health effects, causing inflammation. Amid growing confusion, largely on social media, the Heart Foundation published a statement in May saying seed oils were rich in unsaturated fats which support heart health and were recommended for cooking and dressings. Perth-based paediatric dietitian Kyla Smith said there was room for all foods in a healthy diet. “I think all of this stuff has been blown out of proportion. There’s really nothing convincing that there is a problem with seed oils,” she said. “They are in a lot of non-core discretionary foods, and I think that’s exactly what our dietary guideline says, eat mostly core foods for good health.” “I don’t think we need to complicate it to this level, let’s just go back to eating a wide variety of foods.”