Is Increased Snacking Responsible for Poorer Health in Children?

Over the past three decades, snacking has become normalized and the increase may be responsible for declines in health measures in children and adults.

A national survey found that childhood snacking trends are moving toward three snacks per day with over 27% of daily calories coming from snacks. The largest increases have been in salty snacks and candy consumption, while desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks.

Usually, the calorie content of the snacks are due mostly to sugar or simple carbs, which results in decreased sense of fullness.

Adults also tend to snack, getting 20% of their daily caloric intake from snacks. However, snacking in adults may not be as much as a problem as it is in children.

One of the problems with snacking in children is that they tend to skip a regular meal because of snacking, with many children not eating three meals a day.

Snacking can be beneficial in that it can prevent digestive and metabolic overload associated with a large meal, as long as the food choices are healthy.

The food industry has quite ingeniously designed foods that are convenient and promote your desire to consume more, making snacking on less healthy choices much easier than snacking on healthy foods.

I recommend all snacks, as well as all meals be a balance of equal parts protein, carbohydrate and fat, calorie-wise. Eating in this way can promote a sense of fullness as it helps eliminate blood sugar highs and lows. There are many health benefits to maintaining a level of blood sugar. In addition, a diet rich in whole, unprocessed foods provides other essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals that you don’t get in many processed foods.

For more information on the study on children, click: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2837536/

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