Snacking Adds to Weight Issue for Children in U

The study is in the journal Health Affairs. Nutrition professor Barry Popkin was the lead investigator. He says parents should limit snacks to one a day for children age six and older. He also advises parents and caregivers to provide healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables.

The study was done at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers studied the diets of thirty-one thousand children ages two to eighteen over a thirty-year period.

The study also found greater snacking on cake, cookies and other treats that past generations might have saved for after dinner.

First lady Michelle Obama is leading a campaign to fight childhood obesity. Public health officials reported in January that seventeen percent of American children are severely overweight.

America's top public health officer wants to see more changes like this. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin recently spoke to lawmakers about making healthy foods more available.

There has been a push for schools to offer more healthful snacks and lunch choices and fewer sugary drinks.

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

They found that snacking has increased since the nineteen seventies. And what kinds of snacks have increased the most? Salty, high-fat foods like chips.

Professor Popkin says American schools also need to improve their nutrition. For example, schools may have vending machines that offer what many people would consider junk food.

REGINA BENJAMIN: "There is a growing consensus that we as a nation need to recreate our communities and environments where healthy choices are easy choices and affordable choices."

Researchers say American children now eat an average of three snacks a day between meals. A study found that those snacks add up to almost one-third of all the daily calories eaten by children. And those extra calories could help explain the rise in overweight children in the United States.