A NEW GENERATION OF SNACKERS
A US REPORT SAYS
Children eat an average of three snacks a day on top of meals,
Ninety-eight per cent of children surveyed in 2006 said they snacked, compared with 74 per cent in 1977.
Tuesday’s report in the journal Health Affairs was based on four national surveys of more than 31,000 Americans aged two to 18.
Children consume more than 27 per cent of their daily calories through snacks, Barry Popkin and Carmen Piernas of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found.
“The largest increases have been in salty snacks and candy,” Popkin and Piernas wrote. “Desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks.
“Children increased their caloric intake by 113 calories per day from 1977 to 2006.”
The findings raise the question of whether children are moving toward constant eating, the study’s authors said.
The March issue of the journal includes several other articles on reversing childhood obesity through changes in advertising, food-stamp and school-lunch programs and eliminating junk foods in schools.
In a journal commentary, Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said reversing the epidemic will require several policy changes, including:
•Taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages.
•Incentives to promote healthy crop production.
•A ban on advertising that fosters bad eating habits.
•Sustained efforts to increase physical activity among children.
“From the federal to the state and local level, in the public and the private sector, from Fortune 500 companies to families around their kitchen tables, there are simple things each of us can do to encourage physical activity, improve nutrition and help our kids live healthier lives,” Frieden said in a release.
On Feb. 9, U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, launched a national campaign to combat childhood obesity, including a public awareness campaign and child nutrition programs.
