Parents: Before you crack down too hard on your kids' daily
consumption of the latest sugary breakfast cereal, you may
want to consider a study culled from the December issue of
Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
From
February 1998 through February 1999, more than 2,000 households
in the United States kept a two-week food diary. Included
in the study were 603 children ages 4 to 12 years, divided
into three groups: those ingesting ready-to-eat cereal eight
or more times within two weeks; those consuming cereal four
to seven times; and those eating three or fewer servings.
The results were evaluated in terms of the notoriously "unforgiving"
body mass index (BMI), which for the first group (those eating
cereal the most frequently) showed 80 percent falling within
appropriate standards.
Contrary to this, only 52.6 percent of the children who consumed
relatively little cereal for breakfast maintained an appropriate
BMI. Now of course, Dr. Albertson represents the Bell Institute
of Health and Nutrition (formed by General Mills, one of the
world's leading cereal companies), but the message is still
clear: Cereal - or any breakfast food containing even the
minimum of nutritional ingredients - is better than nothing
at all.
Have you taken your children to see your doctor of chiropractic
yet? In addition to starting them on the road to health with
regular chiropractic adjustments, your chiropractor can discuss
nutritional strategies to keep you and your kids fit in an
increasingly unfit world.
Reference:
Albertson AM, Anderson GH, Crockett SJ, Goebel MT. Ready-to-eat
cereal consumption: Its relationship with BMI and nutrient
intake of children aged 4 to 12 years. Journal of the American
Dietetic Assocation December, 2003:103(12).
For more on pediatric health, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/pediatrics/index.html.
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