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Trends of calorie sources for US children aged 2–18 years over the 1977–78 to 2007–8 period
Author(s) -
Mathias Kevin Clark,
Slining Meghan,
Popkin Barry
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.348.4
Subject(s) - period (music) , calorie , medicine , pediatrics , demography , endocrinology , physics , sociology , acoustics
Minimal research has been undertaken on changes in food sources of calories consumed by children over time, a critical component of our fight against child obesity. Our objective was to compare sources of all calories in 1977/8 and 2007/8 for children ages 2–18. Two days of nationally representative dietary intake data for each time period were examined. Foods were linked between the time periods via their food and nutrient composition to ensure comparability. The largest increases in intake (kcal) from 1977/8 to 2007/8 were observed for pizza (86 kcal), savory snacks (67 kcal), grain dishes (59 kcal), and sugar sweetened beverages (50 kcal). Sugar sweetened beverages replaced high‐fat/low‐carb milk/milk beverages as the largest contributor of calories in children's diets in 2007/08 versus 1977/8. Pizza and savory snacks categories became the 2nd and 3rd largest contributors of calories in 2007/8. These results show that food groups with the largest increases in calories became the largest contributors to caloric intake in 2–18‐year‐olds in 2007. These findings point to concern for a trend toward an increasingly unhealthy diet for US children. Funding: NIH/NICHD (1T32HD057824‐02), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Grant 67506), and NIH (R01 HL104580). Grant Funding Source : NIH/NICHD (1T32HD057824‐02)