Kids Calories Come From Fast Food

Report revealed that 34.3 percent of all children and adolescents aged 2-19 placed a significant amount of fast food items to their daily food consumption.



“It is a sign that there is a whole lots of work to do to help families come up with practical solutions”, said Dr. Esther Krych, a pediatrician with the Mayo Clinic’s Children’s Center in Rochester, Minnesota.

This means that the age group between two to nineteen years old are getting more calories than recommended, and are eating unhealthy food choices.

Teens are more likely than smaller children to consume fast food, the report said.The report was released by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The authors of the study explained that the difference could be due to the role United States lifestyle plays on the practice of unhealthy behaviors.

This makes the rateof childhood obesity for the past 10 years a reasonable one- by up to 17 percent. The obesity rate among adolescents more than quadrupled, growing from 5% to almost 21% over the same period, according to the CDC.

Bonnie Taub-Dix, dietician and owner of the “Better than Dieting” website shares that parents also like fast food meals because of the convenience and the price.

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.

But according to experts, it is extremely hard to eat in a healthy way at a fast-food restaurant.