CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Children snack almost continuously throughout the day, and the junk calories account for up to 27 percent of their daily caloric intake, according to a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study. The increase in snacking is associated with a rise in childhood obesity and has put millions of U.S. children at risk of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.
“Our study shows that children, including very young children, eat snacks almost three times a day,” said senior author Barry Popkin, Ph.D. “Such findings raise concerns that more children in the United States are moving toward a dysfunctional eating pattern, one that can lead to unhealthy weight gain and obesity.”
Researchers studied nationally representative surveys of food intake in more than 31,000 U.S. children from 1977 to 2006. They zeroed in on snacking patterns and found large increases. For example, in the first survey from 1977 to 1978, 74 percent of children aged 2 to 18 said they snacked on foods outside of regular meals. By the most recent survey, conducted from 2003 to 2006, that number had jumped to 98 percent.
“Kids still eat three meals a day but they’re also loading up on high-calorie junk food that contains little or no nutritional value during these snacks,” he said.
The largest increase in the types of snacks children were eating during the three-decade period were salty, fatty snacks like chips and crackers. Researchers also found that children are less likely to drink milk and are more likely to reach for fruit juice or other sugar sweetened beverages such as sports drinks that contain many calories. Children also are less likely to eat fresh fruits or vegetables at all at snack time.