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Your children should eat a healthy diet so they can grow into healthy adults. Good nutrition at a young age promotes normal development, reduces your child’s risk of diseases and promotes healthy eating habits.
Unfortunately, many children don’t get to eat nutritious foods even in developed countries like the United States. Data from the Department of Agriculture shows that children in more than two million American households were food insecure – or had limited access to nutritious foods – at some time during 2019.
Food insecurity negatively impacts children’s health. According to a 2019 study, young children who grow up food insecure are more likely to be in poor health and to have more developmental problems than those with access to nutritious food.
For their study, researchers analyzed data from more than 28,000 children under the age of four who were mainly from low-income households in five American cities. Around 27 percent of the children lived in households with food insecurity. More than 13 percent of them lived in extremely deprived households where both adults and children were food insecure.
The researchers found that food insecurity was associated with an increased risk of a child being in poor health and experiencing developmental delay, with the odds increasing with age. In addition, children aged two to three years who lived in food-insecure households had a 24 percent increased risk of obesity compared to those who lived in food-secure households.
E. Albert Reece, dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who was not part of the study, commented on these findings: “Childhood obesity remains a persistent problem in this country, and we know it has led to earlier onset of high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes. These conditions, once rare in teenagers, now occur regularly in adolescents.”
In the study, 24 percent of the children aged three to four years were obese while 13 percent of those aged one to two years old had the same problem. “More public health efforts must be made to ensure that children in low-income communities are getting the proper nutrition they need,” Reece went on.
Other studies also linked childhood malnutrition to a number of health problems, including increased risk of illness, stunting and reduced intellectual performance and capacity for physical work. In addition, malnutrition during childhood may reduce women’s reproductive capacity, increase their risk of complicated deliveries and cause their infants to have a lower birth weight.
Good nutrition during your toddler’s first two years of life is vital for their healthy growth and development. You should consult a healthcare practitioner to learn how to feed your child properly, but generally, good nutrition comes from eating a balanced diet.
Here’s a guide on how much food your child should eat every day:
Grains: At least 6 servings a day
Fruits and vegetables: At least 6 servings a day
Milk: At least 3 servings a day
Meat: 2 servings a day
Fats: 3 to 4 servings a day
Avoid giving your child foods that are rich in the following:
Here are some tips for feeding a picky eater:
Good nutrition is important for children’s normal growth and development. Feed your child a balanced diet to ensure he or she grows into a healthy adult.
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