Kids Consume 12% of Their Calories from Fast Food, Contributes to Obesity

Healthy eating starts at home. But due to fast-paced life, most of the time, parents turn to take-outs and fast food to feed their children.

In a report conducted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was found out that kids consume 12% of their calories from fast food, leading to an increased rate of obesity and overweight among children and youth nowadays. Obesity is an abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually 20% or more over an individual’s ideal body weight. According to World Health Organization, obesity has become a global problem in the last decade, with approximately 1.6 billion adults, age 15 years and older, and at least 20 million children under the age of 5 years were affected with the condition.

Liz Szabo shares the detail of the report:

Kids consume 12% of their calories from fast food, study shows

At a time of growing concern over childhood obesity, a new report shows kids get 12% of their calories from fast-food restaurants.

A third of kids eat fast food on any given day, according to the report made public Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report found that children eat the equivalent of a small hamburger — such as the kind found in a McDonald’s Happy Meal — every day, said Kristi King, a senior clinical dietitian with Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, who wasn’t involved in the new study.

“It’s part of our fast, go-go culture,” King said.

Sandra Hassink, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, credits savvy marketing, such as advertising the food with cartoon characters and including toys with meals.

“It’s very well-advertised, and the marketing is working,” said Hassink, who wasn’t involved in the new report. Read more…

No matter how hard we try to avoid fast food, we sometimes have our moment of weakness and give in. It is understandable that, there are occasions we don’t have enough time to cook healthy meals. But bear in mind the old saying, “Too much of something is bad.” Indulging once in a while on fast food is ok, but doing regularly can be totally bad for your health. The recent report that kids consume 12% of their calories from fast food is very alarming, as this shows that healthy eating habit are not implemented at home. If this continues, there will be a rapid rise in mortality rate associated with obesity.

Image Credit: Kids consume 12% of their calories from fast food, study shows – USA Today 

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