04/22/2005

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Chow Line: Curb your child's sweet tooth (for 5/1/05)

Writer:

Martha Filipic
filipic.3@osu.edu
(614) 292-9833

Source:

Jaime Ackerman, Human Nutrition

My 2-year-old niece seems to eat a lot of sweets. Her parents seem to think it's not causing any harm (she's not overweight) and that she'll outgrow it. What do you think?

Well, it’s hard to know what you consider “a lot,” so it’s not easy to judge from here. But recent findings show that young children who eat a large amount of added sweets also usually eat fewer nutritious foods. And that’s not good at any age.

The study, published in the January 2005 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, reported that American preschoolers average 14 to 17 teaspoons of added sugar each day, mostly from fruit-flavored drinks, high-fat desserts and cola-type soft drinks. In addition, the researchers reported that children tend to eat these foods instead of more nutrient-packed foods in the grain, vegetable, fruit and dairy food groups.

The researchers examined the diets of more than 5,000 preschoolers for the study, using data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals from 1994 to 1996 and 1998. They found that the children who had the highest sugar consumption -- with added sugars making up at least 25 percent of their daily calories -- had the lowest consumption of most nutrients. About 11 percent of the preschoolers consumed that much sugar, which equaled 23.1 teaspoons a day for 2- and 3-year-olds and 26.4 teaspoons for 4- and 5-year-olds.

Calcium intake appears to be of special concern, the researchers said. Of the preschoolers who consumed the highest amount of sugar, 40 percent of those aged 2 or 3 and 70 percent of those aged 4 or 5 didn't consume enough calcium. Even in children whose intake of sugar was low, calcium was a concern: 14 percent of the younger children and 39 percent of the older ones still didn't get enough.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, children from 1 to 3 years old should get 500 milligrams of calcium a day, while children from 4 to 8 should get 800 milligrams of calcium daily. A cup of milk (white, chocolate or otherwise flavored), 8 ounces of yogurt, and 1.5 ounces of hard cheese each contain about 300 milligrams of calcium.

Chow Line is a service of Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. Send questions to Chow Line, c/o Martha Filipic, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1044, or filipic.3@osu.edu.

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Editor: This column was reviewed by Jaime Ackerman, registered dietitian and Ohio State University Extension nutrition associate in the College of Human Ecology.