Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993 TAG: 9301270044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
THEY KNOW, THEY KNOW, BUT JUNK FOOD TASTES BETTER
It's not that kids don't know what they should be eating. A lot of the time, they just don't eat it."I think there's a gap between the mind and the mouth," said Johanna Dwyer, a registered dietitian and director of a Boston clinic that deals with diet-related problems in adults and children.
"The microwave has revolutionized children's meal patterns because they can prepare their own food. It used to be that your mother wouldn't let you near the stove, but you could go to the refrigerator," she said.
Of 407 children 9 to 15 years old surveyed in 1991, 74 percent said they decide for themselves what they eat for snacks and 65 percent said they choose what they eat for breakfast.
Forty-six percent of those questioned by The Gallup Organization on behalf of the International Food Information Council and the American Dietetic Association said they pick lunch, and 27 percent chose their own dinner.
But 50 percent of all those surveyed said foods that are good for them don't taste good. And a 1989 survey of 5,043 youngsters (conducted for the Kellogg Co. by Harris-Scholastic Research) showed only one in three third- to 12th-graders said they eat the right kinds of food very often.
There are exceptions: Jesse Nagle, 9, explains that protein is important.
"If I didn't have it, I wouldn't be in good shape and I wouldn't be able to play sports," he says, showing off a bowl of turkey balls he made with a little help from his dad.
What about vegetables? "Instead of sugar added on to them, they have built-in stuff that's good," he says.
But many others are dependent on processed foods aimed at youngsters, and that isn't a good thing, according to a committee of nutrition and health experts picked by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"The same companies that sell healthful foods for adults foist fatty, salty, sugary foods on our children," the committee said in a report issued in July. "Stroll down supermarket aisles. Go to a fast-food restaurant. Watch a few hours of Saturday-morning television.
"Packaging and ads tempt children to consume fatty fast-foods, sugary cereals and soft drinks, additive-laden candy, and salty snacks and canned foods, rather than the fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains they should be eating."
Some working parents bless food-makers which have marketed lines of heat-and-eat meals specifically for youngsters.