Sticking on to a healthy diet schedule is difficult especially in a period where we find food joints swarmed by people. A Food4Thought survey conducted by professionals from the British Heart Foundation has disclosed that kids in the UK are apparently opting for foodstuffs like chocolate, energy drinks or chips giving fresh fruits and vegetables a miss.
As part of the investigation, almost 2000 kids aged 11 to 16 were examined. The results showed that the normal diet of these kids included one bag crispy foods, one bar of chocolate, one pack of chewable jellies, one fizzy beverage and one energy drink.
Victoria Taylor, our Senior Dietitian, remarked, “Five-a-day seems to have a whole new meaning for some young people. They are consuming an alarming amount of fizzy drinks, sweets, chocolate and crisps as a regular part of their daily diet. It’s already been suggested that this generation of children may not live longer than their parents due to the implications of their lifestyle on levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.â€
About 1 in 3 kids reportedly consumed the aforesaid foodstuffs thrice or more times in a day. Nearly half of the children seemed to conform to drinking fizzy or energy drinks at daytime. Contrarily, almost 32% of the participants did not appear to consume the advisable proportions of fruits and veggies every day. Notably, about 34% of children were more likely to succumb to crisps other than fruits at lunch.
This sure is a warning bell as far as childhood obesity is concerned, specifically in the UK owing to its high incidence there. The analysis essentially put forth that children are presumably consuming about 30 spoons of sugar, high amounts of fat and salt on a daily basis.
The team concluded that present food choices are likely to govern health consequences in the long run.