Pizzas take a toll on kids' health, shows new study
Go ahead, give your kids pizza. Just
maybe not so much of it. A new study found that American kids take in more
calories, fat and salt on days they eat pizza.
That’s not necessarily because it’s
worse than a burger.
It has a lot to do with the way
pizza lends itself to snacking – and overindulging.
When pizza was on the menu, kids
ages 2 to 11 years consumed 84 more calories and 134 more milligrams of sodium
than on days they didn’t eat the food, while teens took in an extra 230
calories and 484 milligrams of sodium, research published on Monday showed.
About 20% of kids eat pizza on any
given day, and it’s their second-highest source of calories behind desserts,
authors said. So parents should try to avoid giving pizza as a snack. And if
it’s served as a meal, it should be made with healthier ingredients in a bid to
limit the number of slices consumed, Powell said.
“This is not saying don’t eat
pizza,” said Powell, a professor of health policy and administration at the
University of Illinois at Chicago. “It’s an opportunity for us to make some
small changes because it’s such a prevalent item in children’s diets.” US pizza
purveyors say they’re on board with that.
Domino’s Pizza Inc (DPZ) has
introduced slices for school lunch programmes made with whole white wheat crust
and lower fat, company spokesman Tim McIntyre said in an e-mail.
Pizza Hut has introduced new
products, like the low-calorie Skinny Slice. “We believe that every item on the
Pizza Hut menu can be part of a balanced diet,” said Doug Terfehr, a spokesman
for the chain owned by Yum! Brands Inc.
“Moderating pizza consumption should
become our goal to reduce obesity in US,” William Dietz, the study’s author
said.
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