The United States is undergoing a tough battle as the numbers of obese individuals continually increase. Health care providers release a statistic where they explain that only eight percent of children in the U.S. eat their greens and more than fifty percent of infants does not consume breast milk.
A new study reveals that children these days barely have any greens on their plates. Ninety percent of toddlers and school-aged children usually choose white potatoes as their main source of vegetables. The study published in the journal Pediatrics explain that parents and educators in the United States need to re-consider the children's diet.
"We knew from previous studies that more work was needed to improve feeding habits in this age group," study co-author Gandarvaka Miles said. "We observed many of the same trends in our study: a substantial proportion of American infants are not breastfed, vegetable consumption is lower than desired, and consumption of sweetened beverages and sugary snacks is prevalent."
American children rarely eat their greens and babies, including infants, are not getting their needed nutrition as well. More than 50 percent of newborns are not getting their breast milk, which can be a great source of nutrients for them, as reported by Daily Mail.
The researchers compared the data from 2,359 participants from 2005 and 2012. Older children, who were part of the study, consumed more French fries compared to their greens, according to the researchers. Aside from the older kids, infants were also far from what health care officials are aiming for as more than half of the newborns are not consuming breast milk.
The growing number of obese children are starting to raise concern as school-aged kids as young as four- to five-years-old were already deemed as overweight and unhealthy, according to The Guardian. Pediatricians urge parents to set a good example for their kids, especially with what they eat.
