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
McGinnis, J.M. And W.H. Foege. Actual causes of death in the United States. JAMA. 1993;270:2207-2212.
Meredith, C.N., And J.T. Dwyer. Nutrition and exercise: Effects on adolescent health. Annual Review of Public Health. 1991;12:309-333
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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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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.
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US Department of Health and Human Services. CDC. Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. July 1996.
