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Trends in sources of empty calories for 2–18 year olds in the US: 1977–2008
Author(s) -
Slining Meghan M,
Popkin Barry M
Publication year - 2012
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.26.1_supplement.256.2
Subject(s) - calorie , food science , saturated fat , sugar , population , zoology , chemistry , environmental health , medicine , biology , cholesterol , biochemistry , endocrinology
Much emphasis is placed on reducing consumption of empty calories from added sugars and solid fats. Our objective was to study 30‐year trends in food and beverage sources of empty calories among US 2–18 year olds. One day of nationally representative dietary intake data for each period was examined. We categorized foods with excessive added sugars (≥13% of energy from added sugars), excessive saturated fat (≥9.1% of energy from saturated fat) or both as key sources of empty calories. All analyses use sample weights that reflect the US population aged 2–18 y. The percent of energy consumed by children and adolescents from foods and beverages classified as empty calories remained stable from 1977–2005 (80% of total energy from empty calorie foods), with a slight decrease to 76% by 2008. A concurrent decrease it total calories consumed was observed over the same time period (2003–2008). While per capita consumption decreased, the top sources of empty calories remained consistent across time, namely sugar sweetened beverages, excess fat pizza, excess fat milk beverages, excess fat processed meats, excess fat pasta dishes, excess fat poultry and excess fat cakes, cookies and pies. Substantial increases in intake were observed from 2003‐ 2008 for excess fat tortilla based dishes and cheese. These findings provide important insights on recent improvements in child diet as well as areas that can still be enhanced. Funding comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Grant 67506) .