How Too Much Pizza May Affect Kids’ Health

How Too Much Pizza May Affect Kids' Health
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Teens and children eat pizza more often than adults but experts advise reducing kids’ consumption of pizza because it could raise their risk for unwanted health conditions.  ( Public Domain )

 

Pizza is very popular among American kids. Studies have in fact revealed that children  eat pizza more often than adults but some experts have raised concerns over this food and advised parents to watch out for how much children’s are consuming.

The researchers found that even though the amount of calories that children consume from pizza has dropped by 25 percent from 2003 to 2010, the food is still a favorite part of the children’s diet with about 20 percent of children and teenagers eating pizza any day.

During the days when children eat pizza, they also end up taking in increased amount of saturated fat, more salt and more calories all at once. When teens eat pizza, they consume about 230 more calories and 484 milligrams of sodium, while younger kids consume about 84 more calories and 134 milligrams of sodium than during the days when they do not eat pizza.

 


   Kids also tend to consume more saturated fat when the pizza is on the table and all these have unwanted implications. Increased salt, calorie and saturated fat intake could lead to unwanted health consequences such as heart disease and obesity, which has become very prevalent among children in the U.S.

The researchers advised that parents avoid giving pizza to children between snacks and that should it be given as a meal, pizza should be made of healthy ingredients and served with vegetables and salads as well as lean mean to reduce the number of slices that children would consume. Experts also recommend making pizza at home rather than ordering to have control over how it is made.

 

Overall pizza is one of the many “fast foods” that kids are dealing with that are destroying their health. Americans tend to be aware of how bad pizza and many of the other harmful foods are but they aren’t keeping it away or at least trying to reduce how much their kids consume. It seems as if Americans don’t really believe the consequences until they see them.

link of featured image: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/27569/20150120/pizza-is-bad-for-kids-health-heres-why.htm

link of article: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/27569/20150120/pizza-is-bad-for-kids-health-heres-why.htm

link of video: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/pizza-impact-kids-health-28321512