Your Toddler Isn’t Eating The Most Sugar In Your House — Your Teen Son Is

sugar in kids dietsStudies that take a peek into sugar in kids’ diets never seem to reveal anything positive. Headlines that remind us how much sugar is actually in kids’ cereals or how horrendous processed chicken nuggets are, many times, tell parents what they already know. It’s no real shocker that children are seeing more soda advertisements than ever, or that said advertisements account for only a sliver of the many hours of media children see everyday that encourage them to snack on not so great foods. So another study announcing that children are eating far too much sugar pretty much prompts the same reaction — except that a particular demographic is munching on that candy and ice cream in larger quantities and it’s not your 2-year-old.

The New York Times reports that older white males (aged 12-19) are the ones leaving the cabinets bare of processed foods like jam, bread, and of course staples like candy and ice cream. White teen boys received a whopping 17.5% of their calories — the most out of adolescent teens girls and toddlers of both sexes — from the aforementioned foods along with white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, and molasses. Fruit juices, whether pure or otherwise, were not included in the study.

Contrary to popular opinions on food consumption, researchers found that household income made no difference in sugary diets. And white children consumed by far “the largest percentage of calories from sugar.” The Times reports:

The numbers reveal two facts that may contradict commonly held beliefs. First, young people got 60 percent of their sugar calories from foods, and only 40 percent from soft drinks. And second, whether it was from food or drink, they got most of their sugar at home, not at school or elsewhere.

So diet soda, seemingly whole grain bread, and “healthy-looking” cereals be damned. Check and read those labels mommies, because you can find sugar, corn syrup, and molasses in everything from sliced bread to crackers.

(photo: Shutterstock)

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