Snacking Adds to Weight Issue for Children in US

A researcher says the current average of three snacks a day is two too many in a nation where 17 percent of kids are obese.

16 March 2010

Salty, high-fat snacks have little nutritional value but lots of calories

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Researchers say American children now eat an average of three snacks a day between meals. A study found that those snacks add up to almost one-third of all the daily calories eaten by children. And those extra calories could help explain the rise in overweight children in the United States.

The study was done at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers studied the diets of thirty-one thousand children ages two to eighteen over a thirty-year period.

They found that snacking has increased since the nineteen seventies. And what kinds of snacks have increased the most? Salty, high-fat foods like chips.

The study also found greater snacking on cake, cookies and other treats that past generations might have saved for after dinner.

The study is in the journal Health Affairs. Nutrition professor Barry Popkin was the lead investigator. He says parents should limit snacks to one a day for children age six and older. He also advises parents and caregivers to provide healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables.

Professor Popkin says American schools also need to improve their nutrition. For example, schools may have vending machines that offer what many people would consider junk food.