Overweight children tend to take more fruits, vegetables, fish, brown bread and potatoes as well as low-energy cheese and yoghurt than in the past.
Overweight children are becoming increasingly health conscious. They tend to take more fruits, vegetables, fish, brown bread and potatoes as well as low-energy cheese and yoghurt than in the past – and more frequently than normal weight children. A study by researchers at Telemark University College, Norway and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health showed -
Overweight children drank juice and artificially sweetened soft drinks more often, while the normal weight children drank carbonated drinks and ate unhealthy foods and processed foods such as burgers, sausages, biscuits, processed pizza and sweets.
The results suggest that both parents and children have increased awareness of food choices when children are overweight.
The study also showed that overweight children were less physically active and were more likely to have obese parents than normal weight children.
“It is positive that parents and children emphasise healthy food choices. However, it is important to note that the amount of healthy foods must be adapted to a child’s activity level to limit further weight gain,” said researcher Anne Lise Brantsæter at the NIPH.
“Obesity is a growing problem that can have unfortunate consequences for the children both physically and mentally. There are many contributing factors to obesity and it is important that both parents and children are given good guidance and support early on,” added Brantsæter.
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Children’s eating habits were assessed by asking how often the child had eaten a variety of foods, both for meals and snacks. The researchers used this to identify eating patterns that reflect which foods are often eaten together. This way of studying diet provides a more comprehensive picture than investigating the intake of individual foods separately.
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The analysis takes into account other factors relevant to children’s eating patterns and weight, i.e., parents’ educational level, income and employment, and if the parents themselves were overweight.
The findings have been published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Source-Medindia