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Bad Eating Habits Start
Near Age 2 In
the October 27, 2003 online issue of the InteliHealth Health News comes
the report on a study that shows that children's eating habits can start
as early as age 2.
The
"Feeding Infants & Toddlers Study", commissioned by baby-food maker Gerber
Products Company showed that, "By 24 months, patterns look startlingly
similar to some of the problematic American dietary patterns." The
article noted that recent research has found that roughly one in every
five Americans is now considered obese, double the rate in the mid-1980s.
The study was conducted
by random telephone interviews in 2002 that asked parents or primary
caregivers what their youngsters ages 4 months to 2 years ate on that
particular day. Up to a third of the children under 2 consumed no fruits
or vegetables, according to the survey. And for those who did have a
vegetable, French fries were the most common selection for children 15
months and older. Additionally, Thirty to 40 percent of the children 15
months and up had a sugary fruit drink each day, and about 10 percent had
soda.
A Chicago-area
dietitian, Jodie Shield, who has written two books on child nutrition,
noted "If kids are having soda and soft drinks at such an early age, it's
going to be very, very challenging to introduce other types of foods for
them later".
The article stated that
children aged 1 to 2 years require about 950 calories per day, but the
study found that the median intake for that age group is 1,220 calories,
-- an excess of nearly 30 percent. For those 7 months to 11 months old,
the daily caloric surplus was about 20 percent.
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