Forty percent of the food the children eat has little or no nutritional value, according to a new study from the National Cancer Institute in Maryland.
"This number is staggering and depressing," said Professor Kelly Brownell of Yale University.
The study found that half of the calories that children ages 2 to 18 year old consume every day come from six foods:
- sweetened soda
- sugary fruit drinks
- grain desserts, such as cake, cookies, and doughnuts
- dairy desserts such as ice cream
- pizza
- whole milk.
Soda with sugar accounted for ten percent of their daily calorie intake.
"High added sugar consumption, which occurs most commonly in the form of sugar sweetened beverages, is associated with a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors and the development of obesity," said Dr. Rae Ellen Kavey of the University of Rochester's Medical Center Department of Pediatrics.
The study appears in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association
Labels: diet, nutrition, junk food
Posted By: Jane St. Clair
