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Snacking Shocker: Kids Prefer Cheetos to Carrots
Filed under: Nutrition: Health, Nutrition: Big Kids, Research Reveals: Big Kids, Nutrition: Tweens, Research Reveals: Tweens, Nutrition: Teens, Research Reveals: Teens
When a snack attack strikes, are kids opting for junk food? Credit: Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images
When it comes to snack time, more kids are reaching for salty chips, candy and junk food than ever before, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study released this week.
Snacks now account for 27 percent of children's calorie intake, according to Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health.
The increase in unhealthy snacks has occurred while childhood obesity is on the rise.
"Our study shows that children, including very young children, eat snacks almost three times a day," Popkin says in a news release about the study, which appears in the March issue of Health Affairs. "Such findings raise concerns that more children in the United States are moving toward a dysfunctional eating pattern, one that can lead to unhealthy weight gain and obesity."
The number of children ages 2 to 18 who snacked between meals jumped from 74 percent to 98 percent between 1977 and 2006, according to the study.
The snacks, themselves, also have gotten less healthy. Children are more likely to eat candy, chips and crackers than fruits or vegetables, Popkin says.
"Kids are eating nearly three snacks a day and that's too much," Popkin says. He offers these suggestions to parents:
- Try to limit snack time to once a day for children six and older.
- Be sure to up on plenty of healthy snack food items, such as apple slices, carrots and other fruits and vegetables.
- Limit a young child's consumption of junk food or candy and talk to older teens about the importance of a healthy diet, including snacks.
Related: 100-Calorie Snacks: Make Your Own
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
3-05-2010 @ 9:09PM
wIL said...Kids prefer cheetos to carrots, Duh,
so do I.
Reply
3-06-2010 @ 4:47PM
KidsReadAndRide said..."Kids Read and Ride" is a free program for schools to collect donated exercise bikes for students to ride while they read fun magazines and books. Find out more information about this novel way to prevent childhood obesity and promote literacy at: www.KidsReadAndRide.com
Reply
5-13-2010 @ 10:46AM
Linda said...I would opt for just about anything other than carrot sticks! Healthy or otherwise. The only way I can even stomach carrots is if they are cooked. I can't even buy most bagged salad because they put all those darned carrots in there. There appears no convenient way to escape them. Why do the producers of the salads and the like feel the need to stuff such a disgusting taste down my throat?
Reply
7-03-2010 @ 7:35AM
Reverend Robert said...Yeah, that's a real "shocker." "Children are more likely to eat candy, chips and crackers than fruits or vegetables, Popkin says." It really took a professor to figure that out? How much is that person getting paid to make that observation? I think any American parent or child could have told you that.
Reply
7-03-2010 @ 9:37AM
Ashley said...No, REALLY?! I HAD NO IDEA!
This is the kinda crap we're wasting money on to study? I should have been a researcher. Come up with some retard 2nd grade science fair project, and people in Research divisions will THROW money at you!
Reply
8-28-2010 @ 7:11PM
Sonia said...To be honest, I am a 17 year old teen that goes to a public high school and I do want junk food over healthy on a lot of days. But to be honest, to keep myself from buying it at school is to limit how much money I bring with my to school so I can't buy it and to bring healthy substitutes. I honestly think that if schools tried harder to put fruit options in and took out a lot of junk food, kids would choose the fruit over the junk.
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