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Childhood obesity is one of the fastest growing problems in America. 31 percent of children in the Americas now are overweight or obese, and in Europe that number is closer to 40 percent.
Of course, this must have something to do with what these kids are eating. Researchers at Duke National University of Singapore decided to find out exactly what that was.
They looked at what foods are associated with overweight and obese children, and then recorded the diets of nearly 4,500 children in the 1990s. They also studied what happened to their bodies.
The results? Some foods are doing much more damage than others.
The worst offender was potato chips. Kids who ate potato chips were found to gain more weight than any of the other children in the study. The researchers said this is because “potato chips are very high in energy density and have a low satiety index, yet are commonly consumed as snacks.”
Many of the other snacks had a similar pattern. French fries, fried chicken and fish, fatty spreads, and processed meats all ranked high on the childhood obesity list. Foods with added sugar, like desserts and sugary drinks, came next.
What all these foods have in common? Lots of calories, no filling power.
Eric Finkelstein, the study’s lead author and a teacher at the Duke Global Health Institute, said of these foods: “Just because a food has more calories doesn’t mean it results in more weight gain. There are foods, like potatoes, which aren’t inherently bad for you because they fill you up. But when you turn them into French fries and potato chips, they tend to result in weight gain.”
Liquid calories, he says, are special offenders. They’re even less satiating than solid foods, so they’re doubly harmful.
For parents, seeing these foods may be a great tool to understand how to feed their child healthy foods, and to keep them from developing bad habits in the future.
“Overweight kids almost certainly become obese adults,” said Finklestein. “Whatever happens when kids are young is almost always irreversible.”
