Where is the sugar kids eat coming from- you might be surprised

The USDA released some interesting statistics on kids and sugar intake.

I think it is probably no surprise to anyone that kids (in fact, probably most of us) take in too much sugar.

But I think we may have had some preconceived notions about where that sugar came from.

I think many people feel that most of the sugar kids consume comes from the high sugary drinks:  

• soda
• fruity flavored drinks
• sports drinks
• flavored milk
• too much fruit juice (it is high in sugar, albeit natural sugar)

I also think that many people think that kids get most of their sugar from eating away from home, fast food restaurants, vending machines etc

You might also think that it gets worse as they become teens.

Here are the results of this study from the CDC.

The study found these key findings:

Are there differences in the mean number of calories consumed from added sugars by boys and girls and by age group?

Yes, boys ate/drank more sugar in a day than girls did.

As kids got older, their sugar intake increased.

Were children and adolescents more likely to consume the added sugars from foods and beverages at home or away from home?

More added sugar came from home than away from home.

To mean, this means we need more effort towards teaching parents and kids about how to decrease their sugar intake by:

• learning to read food labels of the foods you buy
• learning to find sugar that is hidden by other words like maltose and corn syrup
• buy less packaged foods and more fresh foods
• cook at home so that you know how much sugar is in your food

Food label learning resources for kids and parents

Printable - Fun Food Label Activity & Coloring Sheet

Fun coloring worksheet to help younger children learn about food packages that have food labels.

Printable - Food Labels Informational Learning Sheet

Chef Solus teaches children about each part of the food label.

Food Groups and the Food Label Coloring Sheet

Chef Solus teaches children how each of the food groups have foods that use food labels

 

Chef Solus Introduces the Food Label Coloring Sheet

Chef Solus and explorer kids introduces the Food Label. Even the little ones can color and begin to learn about the importance of food labels!

Printable - Learning Easy Food Label Facts

Easy reference printable reference guide to help children quickly identify parts of the food label to look at. Red and green color queues.

Printable - Using Food Labels - Easy 1-2-3- steps

Chef Solus gives three easy steps to using the food label. Practical way for kids and even parents to read food labels.