A recent government report shows that one-third of children and adolescents in America eat pizza, burgers, or other fast food each day during the years 2011 through 2012.
According to AJC.com, the new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that around one-third of all US kids from 2 to 19 years old ate fast food in any given day in 2011 and 2012.
According to the CDC report, 34.3 percent of all US kids aged 2-19 in those years ate fast food in any given day. Almost 12 percent got lower than 25 percent of their calorie intake from eating fast food, 10.7 percent had 25-40 percent of their calories from fast food, and 12.1 percent got more than 40 percent of their daily calorie intake from fast food.
The report showed that there were no differences in the fast food intake of children and adolescent boys and girls. However, it was found that the percentage of calories from fast food increased with age, as children aged 2-11 had a reported 8.7 percent average fast food calorie intake, while the adolescents aged 12-19 had their average fast food calorie intake at 16.9 percent, both for boys and girls.
The CDC further explained that when race and Hispanic origins were considered, differences are also found. On the whole, non-Hispanic Asian children and adolescents were found to have the lowest calorie intake from fast food, compared to other race groups. Non-Hispanic Asian kids had 8 percent of their calories from fast food. Non-Hispanic whites had 13.1 percent, non-Hispanic blacks had 13.9 percent, and Hispanic children and adolescents had 11.2 percent.
The researchers also checked for differences in fast food calorie intake based on poverty status using the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' poverty guidelines, and body weight status (BMI), and found nothing of significance.
The research used data from the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
According to the Associated Press, the report shows that the daily fast food intake of U.S. kids now are about the same as it was in the 90's, at about 12 percent of the total calorie intake that kids have per day. This is almost the same as the one reported over the last decade, which is at 12 percent as well. This is just slightly higher than the 11 percent which was reported for adults.
On the bright side, although the number of kids eating fast food is still high at 34.3 percent, one of the report's authors, Cheryl Fryar, said "at least we're not seeing it go up."
