D i e t a n d P h y s i c a l A c t i v i t y F a c t s
Children and Adolescents
- Poor diet and inadequate physical activity are the second leading cause of death in the United States and together account for at least 300,000 deaths annually.
- About a quarter of what adolescents eat is junk food - French fries and other deep-fried foods, desserts, regular soft drinks, candy, cookies, pies and cakes.
- Children ages 4 to 12 influence more than $128 billion in family spending each year - much of it is spent on snacks and junk food.
- The purchase of potato chips, nuts, and similar types of snack foods climbed nearly 60 percent from 1980 to 1992.
- Whole milk - which is labeled Vitamin D milk in stores - and cheese are major sources of saturated fat in children's diets. Switching from whole milk, ice cream and regular cheese to 1% or non-fat milk, low-fat or fat-free yogurt and low-fat cheese can help reduce saturated fat intake while ensuring children still obtain the calcium and other essential nutrients in dairy foods.
- Over the course of a year, most children and adolescents spend more time watching television than they spend in a classroom. The average child watches 20,000 commercials per year, at least half of which are for sugar-laden foods.
- Among 12-17 year-olds, the prevalence of obesity rose with each additional hour of watching TV.
- At least one child in five is obese. Studies have shown that 41 percent of obese 7-year-olds become obese adults. More than 80 percent of obese adolescents remain obese adults.
- Nearly half of American youths age 12 to 21 are not vigorously active on a regular basis.
- Participation in all types of physical activity declines strikingly as age or grade in school increases.
References
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Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology, Life Sciences Research Office. Prepared for the Interagency Board for Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research. 1995. Third Report on Nutrition Monitoring in the United States: Executive Summary. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
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Wadden, TA, and K.D. Brownell. The development and modification of dietary practices in individuals, groups, and large populations. In JD Matarazzo, et al. Behavioral Health: A Handbook of Health Enhancement and Disease Prevention.
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Jacobson, M.F., And B. Maxwell. What Are We Feeding Our Kids? Workman Publishing Company, Inc. New York,NY 1994,50. Epstein L., et al. Childhood Obesity. Pediatric Clinics of North America. 1985;32:364.
Diet and Health: Implications for Reducing Chronic Disease Risk. National Research Council, Committee on Diet and Health. 1989,21-35.
US Department of Health and Human Services. CDC. Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. July 1996.
US Department of Health and Human Services. CDC. Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. July 1996.
