Children eat even faster foods – and the coronavirus pandemic can make diets even worse.
As much as 13.8 percent of children’s daily calorie intake between 2015 and 2018 came from meals such as burgers, fries, chicken nuggets and other fast food items – up from 12.4 percent between 2011 and 2012, a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
Children eat more fast food than they did several years ago.
(iStock)
The study looked at data from children between the ages of 12 and 19 and found that children began to get more of their calories from fast-food meals as they got older, suggesting, perhaps, that unusual eating habits lead to negative dietary behaviors. can form as children grow.
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The report, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics of the CDC, found fast foods comprised 11.5 percent of the daily caloric intake for children ages 2 to 11, while those aged 12 to 19 received 18 percent of their diet. of fast food.
What’s more, the report also found that black and Hispanic adolescents consumed more calories from fast-food meals than white adolescents.
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The boom in fast-food eating among American youth could be something contributing to the growing obesity epidemic. Obesity affects nearly 18.4 percent of children in the U.S. aged 6 to 11, and 20.9 percent of children between the ages of 12 and 19, according to the CDC.
And the coronavirus pandemic could make eating habits even worse. With the uncertainty about going back to school, children are likely to be more at home and exercise less without access to gym classes, especially for children living in cities.
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