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Eating
Cereal Helps Kids Control Weight
If you want to keep your kid's weight down, serving breakfast
cereal in the morning might not be a bad idea, researchers
report.
"We are able to show a strong association between the
frequent consumption of ready-to-eat cereals and body mass
index (BMI) in children ages 4 to 12," says lead researcher
Ann M. Albertson, a senior nutrition research scientist
at Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition.
The Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition is a part of
General Mills Inc., the nation's second largest cereal maker,
which funded the study.
Albertson and her colleagues collected data on cereal consumption
in 2,000 households that included 603 children aged 4 through
12. The children were categorized according to age and how
much cereal they ate over a two-week period.
The researchers accounted for all types of cereal, including
whole-grain and presweetened cereals.
Albertson's team found that children who ate eight or more
servings of cereal over the two weeks had significantly
lower BMIs compared with children who ate three servings
or less.
Almost 80 percent of the children who ate cereal often had
an appropriate body weight for their age and gender, according
to the report in the Dec. 3 issue of the Journal of the
American Dietetic Association.
In addition, children who ate the most cereal also had more
vitamins A and B6, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate,
calcium, iron and zinc compared with children who ate little
or no cereal.
"Kids who eat cereal are less likely to be at risk
for being overweight," Albertson says. According to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards,
among children aged 4 to 12 the risk for being overweight
is about one in three.
But Albertson's team found that for children who ate cereal
eight or more times during the two weeks of the study, the
risk for being overweight was reduced to one in five. For
those who ate little cereal, the risk increased to almost
one in two.
"Cereals are unique in that they are a fortified grain
product, and they are low in fat and almost always eaten
with milk, which is a good source of calcium," Albertson
says.
Despite the fact that some of the cereals were presweetened,
there was no difference in the overall sugar consumption
between the two groups of children, she notes. "Ready-to
eat-cereal contributes only about 5 percent of total sugar
intake in kid's diets," Albertson adds.
"If you can get your kids to eat a cereal breakfast,
you are helping to guarantee a more sound nutrient intake
as well as setting them up for eating patterns that are
associated with more favorable body weight," Albertson
says.
Dr. David L. Katz, an associate professor at the Yale School
of Medicine and author of The Way to Eat, says the study
"reaffirms what we have long known, but has recently
been challenged by prevailing dietary fads and fashion:
eating grains is good for us."
Katz adds that the benefits of cereal accrued even when
the cereals were far from optimal, including brands with
added sugar and fat.
"It is likely -- indeed, almost certain -- that efforts
to promote widespread reliance on more wholesome, less processed
cereals would confer even greater benefits with regard to
weight control and health," he says.
"The focus of the current study on children is especially
timely, as the adverse health effects of epidemic obesity
on children are extremely ominous," Katz says.
"Encouraging children to make whole-grain cereals a
consistent part of their diets is simple, convenient and
of considerable potential benefit to their weight and health,"
he adds. "The bottom line is that diets abundant in
whole grains, along with vegetables and fruit, are conducive
to both health and weight control."
Article Source: HealthDay
Article Author: N/A
Net Reference 101
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