010561 Children Eating Better, But Weighing More

New York - Many of the eating habits of the typical American 10-year-old have improved over the past 20 years, but an increasing number of children are overweight, researchers report.

“Although diets have improved, we clearly documented the increase in obesity in children,” Dr. Theresa A. Nicklas, a pediatrician at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, said, “Children weigh more today than in 1973.”

Nicklas and her colleagues tracked seven groups of 10-year-olds in Bogalusa, Louisiana, between 1973 and 1994, as part of the Bogalusa Heart Study, which has been collecting information on children's diets and subsequent heart disease for the past two decades.

The investigators found that in the 1990s, children were more likely to eat fruit and fruit juices, chicken, snack foods and cheese, compared with those studied in earlier years. Importantly, today's kids were less likely to eat fats, desserts and candy, according to findings published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

To investigate the children's diets, the researchers asked them what they had eaten in the previous 24 hours and then analyzed the calorie, cholesterol and fat content of the food. They also measured each child's height and weight.

Nicklas and colleagues found that the children's calorie intake remained fairly constant over the two decades, at around 2,000 to 2,200 calories daily, with boys consuming slightly more than girls.

However, the sources of the calories changed, with more coming from protein and carbohydrates, and less coming from saturated fats. Daily cholesterol intake also declined.

But despite this dietary improvement, more than 75% of the children still exceeded the current recommendations for total fat intake, the report indicates.

“Kids' diets are approaching the dietary recommendations,” Nicklas said. “However, you still see a large percentage not meeting those guidelines. I don't want people to walk away feeling that diet plays no role in the increase of obesity.”

Much of the improvement in the children's diet, according to the researchers, track the nutritional changes made by school lunch programs--in which 26 million schoolchildren participate. However, the increase in calories consumed by students in lunch and breakfast programs may be a factor contributing to obesity as well, Nicklas noted.

Indeed, despite their nutritional improvements, today's children were more likely to be heavy than in past decades. Children in 1994 had, on average, more body fat than their counterparts in the 1970s did.

The researchers speculate this may be partially due to a decrease in children's physical activity in recent years. And today's children watched more television, which studies have linked to an increased tendency toward obesity.

Moreover, according to Nicklas, the study may not have picked up on small increases in daily calorie intake over the years.

“All it takes,” she said, “is an extra 48 calories daily, such as drinking two thirds of a can of soda, to gain 5 pounds a year.”

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