According to a recent study by Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina, frequent snacking is an unequivocal contributor to the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States.
The researchers studied data from four different federal surveys of 31,337 children aged 2 to 18 years of age, and found that on average children in the United States consumed about 3 snacks per day, a trend moving towards constant eating.
In addition, more than 27 percent of those children's daily caloric intake came from these snacks.
Many may be thinking that snacking or eating smaller meals isn't such a bad thing, as many dietitians recommend this as a method to lose weight. Unfortunately, what these kids are snacking on happens to be the problem.
"Childhood snacking trends are moving toward three snacks per day, and more than 27 percent of children's daily calories are coming from snacks. The largest increases have been in salty snacks and candy. Desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks," the researchers wrote.
This is a fact taken seriously by First Lady Michelle Obama, who spoke at the Nutrition Association conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this week.
"Our kids didn't do this to themselves," the First Lady said "From fast food, to vending machines packed with chips and candy, to a la carte lines, we tempt our kids with all kinds of unhealthy choices every day."
She also linked the childhood obesity epidemic to another hot issue in Washington these days: health care.
"You see kids who are at higher risk of conditions like diabetes, and cancer, and heart disease -- conditions that cost billions of dollars a year to treat," she said.
A single can of soda -- one of the most popular snacks among school-aged children -- contains about 150 calories, which makes it easy to see why the childhood obesity rate rose nearly 2 percent in just 3 years, from 14.8 percent in 2003 to 16.4 percent in 2007 among children aged 10 to 17 years old.
Piernas and Popkas' study was published in the health policy journal Health Affairs, in a recent issue dedicated entirely to the topic of child obesity. To learn more about a wide variety of topics relating to childhood obesity, and links to other resources on the subject, visit www.HealthAffairs.org.
