The Washington Post reports on a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluding that "many young children are not consuming fruits and vegetables daily and are regularly consuming sugary beverages."
According to the story, "In 2021, a third of children age 1 to 5 did not eat a daily fruit and nearly half did not eat a daily vegetable during the preceding week, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, 57 percent drank a sugar-sweetened beverage at least once during the preceding week, the report found.
"In Oklahoma, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, more than 70 percent of young kids did not eat a daily vegetable in the preceding week. The percentage of children who did not eat a daily fruit or vegetable was highest among Black children and lowest among non-Hispanic White children.
"In 40 states and the District of Columbia, more than half of children drank a sugar-sweetened beverage at least once during the preceding week (in Mississippi, it approached 80 percent). And parents reported that more than 70 percent of Black children drank a sugar-sweetened drink in the previous week."
- KC's View:
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Somehow, it isn't surprising that the numbers looked that way in 2021 - we were in the middle of a pandemic, and parents were struggling with a lot of different issues on a daily basis. I'm sure that diet in many cases was low on the priority list - they just had to get through the day, maybe get the kids to do some schoolwork and manage to get their own work done as well.
That's not to say this isn't a continuing and worrisome trend. But we also have to keep it in context.
