The results of these studies are disturbing, because they show a trend of "constant eating" instead of eating during regularly scheduled meals or because of hunger -- a habit that has been associated with the nation's childhood obesity epidemic.
Professors Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina studied data on 31,337 children ages 2 to 18 taken from different federal studies on food and eating.
"Childhood snacking trends are moving towards three snacks per day," Piernas and Popkin wrote in their report. "More than 27 percent of children's daily calories are coming from snacks. The biggest increases have been in salty snacks and candy. Desserts and sweetened beverages remain major sources of calories from snacks."
Extra snacking among children added 117 extra calories per day between 1977 and 2006, which adds up to 12 extra pounds a year.
Christina Bethell of the Oregon Health and Science University analyzed data from the 2000 National Survey of Children's Health and found that the rate of obesity for children ages 10 to 17 years old increased from 14.8 percent in 2003 to 16.4 percent in 2007. The prevalence of overweight children remained at 15 percent.
The studies appeared in Health Affairs Journal.
Labels: causes of childhood obesity
Posted By: Aspen/CRC
