01 June, 2005 18:04 GMT
Kids get a whopping one-third of their calories from pizza, snacks and desserts, says a new analysis from a landmark study on children's eating habits.
"It is shocking to think that the 'fun foods' that used to be occasional treats have now become the mainstream diet that kids eat every day," says researcher Linda Van Horn, a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
"These foods are always going to be a big hit with kids, so we need to make them more nutritious."
The study, out today in the June issue of
Pediatrics, also found that when kids and their parents are taught how to make healthier recipes, they don't often have easy access to the better foods.
"This is frustrating, because they want to eat right but can't," Van Horn says. Scientists analyzed data from the Dietary Intervention Study for Children (DISC), which showed that children can follow a low-fat diet without jeopardizing their growth.
'Go' Foods and 'Whoa' Foods
DISC involved 663 pre-adolescent children with high levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol. Some children and their parents were in a control group. The others were in an intervention group, which received hands-on nutrition lessons for three years on how to select more good-for-you "go" foods. They were taught to limit less-healthy "whoa" foods.
For the new findings, researchers re-analyzed more than 4,000 dietary recalls from DISC participants. Van Horn says the families easily switched from whole milk to skim but weren't able to go from pizza to fish or vegetarian options. The new analysis found that after three years:
The intervention group consumed 67% of its calories from healthier "go" foods and reduced high-fat "whoa" foods from 43% of its calories to 32% (doesn't add up to 100% because of rounding).
Members of the control group did not change their intake of high-fat "whoa" foods, about 43% of calories
Both groups ate about a third of their calories from pizza, snacks and desserts, but the intervention group sometimes ate lower-fat, high-fiber versions
The intervention group did not increase its intake of fruits and "go" vegetables, possibly because kids didn't have enough access to them, Van Horn says.
The last nutrient data from the DISC study were collected in 1997, but she says findings are still valid today.
'Fighting an Uphill Battle'
Parents can be "incredibly helpful in making sure the right foods are available, but it may seem like they're fighting an uphill battle," Van Horn says.
The research was paid for by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which along with several other divisions of the National Institutes of Health is launching a program called "We Can!: Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition" (wecan.nhlbi.nih.gov).
The campaign comes as 31% of kids are overweight or at risk of becoming so.
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