“Kids Don’t Eat Right”

 

Most diets lack nutrition:  study

 

By Lisa Jennings

 

Looking at the diet of a group of preschool children in the Knoxville area, University of Tennessee researchers found a disturbing trend:  the most commonly eaten foods were fruit drinks, sodas, 2 percent milk and french fries.

 

“It’s pretty scary if they’re having french fries as often as milk,” said Dr. Jean Skinner, professor of nutrition at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and lead author of the study, which was published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

 

What’s worse is the children’s diets were found to be deficient in several important nutrients, including zinc, folate and vitamins D and E.

 

But this will come as no surprise to any parent concerned about nutrition.

 

In this land of plenty, children grow up in a world where french fries rule; where toddlers barely able to speak can identify fast food restaurant logos; and where virtually every gathering involves unlimited cake and ice cream, hot dogs or chips.

 

It’s a world where even parents with the best intentions and good eating habits find themselves struggling to stem a cultural tide that would lure their children on the path to obesity, diabetes or heart disease.

 

But as evidence mounts that the chronic diseases that plague us a adults begin in childhood, public health officials are calling for a comprehensive change in the way our children grow up eating.

 

U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher recently called for “a conspiracy to get Johnny to eat right.”  This conspiracy should include all levels of society, Satcher said, pointing out the need to look for ways to promote physical activity and good nutrition at home, in schools and throughout communities.

 

“We need to glamorize healthy foods and de-glamorize unhealthy ones,” he said.

 

Indeed, more and more children are being diagnosed with “adult” illnesses such as type 2 diabetes-what used to be called “adult onset” diabetes because it used to affect young people so rarely.  Now 30 to 50 percent of adolescent diabetes cases are type 2.

 

Obesity rates among children are climbing rapidly, and more children are struggling with high cholesterol, hypertension and other illnesses related to obesity, such as asthma.

 

The American pattern of caloric excess and sedentary living is largely to blame.

 

We’re eating more fast food and fewer fruits and vegetables.

 

We drink soda and fruit-flavored sweet drinks instead of water or milk.

 

We’re too busy to cook, so we carry in high-fat, high calorie meals in huge portions.

 

We watch too much television, drive-even for short distances-and sit at computers.  So do our kids.

 

Editorial writers in an issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) devoted to the growing problem of obesity last year also issued a call to arms.

 

“There is a particular need to focus on children and adolescents whose excess weight and sedentary lifestyle will form the basis for a lifetime of preventable morbidity and increased premature mortality,” wrote Drs. Jeffrey Koplan and William Dietz.

 

Among their suggestions:

 

School based interventions to reduce television viewing and to increase physical activity and healthful dietary choices.

 

Returning physical education classes to schools should be a priority.

 

Communities should be designed to permit and encourage walking or biking safely.  They should include community recreation areas such as playgrounds, jogging trails, pools and parks.

 

Pediatricians have long contended that American children are probably getting all the nutrients they need, despite their chicken-nugget loving ways.

 

But studies like Skinner’s indicate that isn’t the case.  What they found consistently was that children were not getting enough fruits and vegetables (good sources of folate) or lean red meat (a good source of zinc).

 

They’re also not eating vegetable oils (vitamin E) or quite enough low-fat milk fortified with vitamin D.

 

Skinner said they did bone density tests on the children and found that, even at such an early age, bone density was affected by lack of calcium.

 

Add osteoporosis to the list of potential future health problems.

 

Ultimately, the culture of bad eating in our society may stem from a culture of bad eating within individual families.

 

Carolyn Vaughn, a registered dietitian and clinical nutritionist at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, said too often parents think whenever an infant cries, it means the child is hungry.  So they feed the child, whether the infant wants to eat or not.  Often babies are forced to finish their bottles, even though they may not need to. 

 

As a result, “kids are learning early to ignore hunger and fullness cues,” she said.  “They don’t know when to eat and when not.  And a lot of the parents don’t either.”

 

Chicago Sun-Times, January 19, 2000