Snack Generation

The beginning of March marks the start of National Nutrition Month, which is a nutrition education and information campaign created by the American Dietetic Association. As we try to focus our attentions on the importance of healthy eating and exercise, a glaring trend in the United States must be addressed. Children and adolescents today are facing dramatically higher rates of obesity compared to the recent past, and according to one recent study done by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, childhood obesity rates have more than tripled since 1980. Also, according to this study, obese or overweight children represent greater than or equal to 30% of all children in 30 different states, with Louisiana ranking 7th nationally having 35.9% of children considered overweight or obese (F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009). These statistics show just how important and widespread this issue is, and the need for healthy and active lifestyles seems more pertinent now than ever.
The causes of obesity and overweight children can be attributed to a number of different factors, from lack of exercise, staying indoors, lack of nutritional meals, etc. However one recent trend seems to show that snacking is one major factor in this epidemic. Snacking, for many children, has replaced the traditional three nutritional meals of the day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Instead of eating healthy foods at these times, children are filling up on calories from foods that provide little to no nutritional value, such as cookies, salty snacks, and fruit drinks. Children eat snacks on average about three times per day, accounting for about “27 percent of an average child’s total daily calories”. Children today are eating more frequently and consuming more calories, but are eating less nutritional foods and performing fewer physical activities. Dr. Popkin explains, “My underlying fear is that we’re moving away from being hungry and eating for satiation to just eating… Food is there, and we eat”.
As we celebrate National Nutrition Month, we should focus more energy on teaching and implementing healthy eating habits with our children and adolescents so that they may continue the healthy lifestyle into adulthood. Obesity in America is becoming an epidemic and is the foundation for several medical problems like diabetes and cardiovascular issues. If we can nip the unhealthy lifestyles in the bud, during childhood, the effects have great potential and could possibly decrease the astronomical medical and health care costs we face as adults.

This blog is based on an article from the New York Times titled “U.S. Children: Generation Snack” by Tara Parker-Pope. To read this article, visit http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/u-s-children-generation-snack