Eight- to 10-year olds with high cholesterol marginally improve their eating habits after receiving tools to make healthy eating choices and years of dietary advice, according to new study findings.
Specifically, kids participating in the intervention increased their intake of most recommended foods, and decreased the amount of many unhealthy foods they ate.
However, children who were coached on eating healthy continued to eat only small amounts of fruits and vegetables, and still got one third of their daily calories from snacks, desserts and pizza.
Desserts and snacks are typically laden with salt, sugar and fat, the authors write in the journal Pediatrics, putting kids at ongoing risk of obesity, high cholesterol, and diabetes, among other problems.
“Targeted emphasis on fruits, vegetables, nonfat dairy, and whole-grain foods as snack foods could potentially help to improve both the nutritional quality and energy balance of children’s dietary intake,” write Linda Van Horn of Northwestern University in Chicago and her colleagues.