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Archives Of Family Medicine

If left to their own devices, most kids will choose junk food and the boob tube over eating their veggies and playing outside. But before you throw up your hands in despair, remember that tired-but-true piece of advice: Teaching your kids good habits when they're young will set them on the right track toward maintaining good health in adulthood.

In fact, just sitting down at the same table with your kids for a meal is a step in the right direction. A study published in the March 2000 issue of Archives of Family Medicine found that kids who have dinner with their families on a regular basis eat more fruits and vegetables and less junk food than kids who are left to fend for themselves. Kids who ate meals with Mom and Dad also consumed significantly more calcium, folate, iron, B vitamins and vitamins C and E. Sadly, less than half of

the 16,000 kids surveyed said they ate a family meal on a daily basis. So maybe the question we should be asking isn't "Do you know where your children are?" but "Do you know where your children are eating?."

don't let your child become one of these statistics

* Dubious Distinctions. A World Health Organization study of more than 120,000 children in 28 countries found that American kids exercise less often and eat more junk food than kids in most other places. Two-thirds of youngsters in the United States exercise less than 2 hours per week, and a staggering 31 percent of them reported eating french fries every day.

* Older, Not Wiser. An American Journal of Health Promotion study (March/April 2000) found that kids' food choices become increasingly unhealthy as they hit their teens. Of the youngsters surveyed, 99 percent ate breakfast in the 3rd grade, but that number fell to just 85 percent by the 8th grade. Researchers also found that kids ate fewer fruits and vegetables as they got older and drank almost three times as many soft drinks in 8th grade as they did in 3rd grade.

* Breakin' Bones Is Easy to Do. A study in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (June 2000) found that athletic girls who drink soda are five times as likely to have fractures as girls who don't drink any soda. Scientists believe that the phosphoric acid in these drinks lessens the body's ability to absorb the calcium needed for healthy bones.

* Hand Me the Remote. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit nutrition advocacy group, the average child between the ages of 8 and 18 spends more than three hours a day watching television. Many nutritionists blame the this couch-potato lifestyle for the rise of childhood obesity: A full 12.5 percent of American kids are classified as obese and one in five are overweight.

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