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MELBOURNE - Children who drink more than two glasses of fruit juice per day are more likely to be overweight or obese, according to new research.
Researchers from Deakin University in Melbourne have found that Australian schoolchildren who drank 500ml of fruit juice and fruit drinks per day were more likely to be overweight or obese than those who did not.
The researchers took a one-day snap shot of the eating habits of 2184 children aged four to 12 years from eight kindergartens and 18 primary schools in the Barwon region in Victoria's south-west.
The aim of the study was to examine the pattern of intake of fast foods, packaged snacks, fruit, vegetables and sweetened drinks by Australian children and to establish if there was a link to weight gain.
Researcher Andrea Sanigorski said that they found the more fruit juice a child consumed, the more likely they were to be overweight.
"Children who drank more than three glasses of soft drink -- three quarters of a litre or 750ml -- or four glasses of fruit juice--rinks on the day in question were more than twice as likely to be overweight or obese compared with children who did not drink these drinks," she said.
Dr Sanigorski said some parents mistakenly thought that giving their child fruit juice was a healthy alternative to soft drinks.
"Parents may not be aware that regular and large amounts of fruit drinks, fruit juices and fruit cordials can also be bad for children's long-term health," she said.
"These drinks contribute high amounts of energy to kids' diets', yet they don't make them feel full."
Dr Sanigorski said the study had also found that one in five children surveyed did not eat vegetables every day.
"One in five children ate no vegetables at all on the day in question," Dr Sanigorski said.
She said that changes to school canteens in Victoria which have seen more healthy alternatives to snack foods such as fruit and vegetables, and a ban on soft drink, were good.
"Current recommendations for changes to school canteens are great because they try to increase vegetables eaten at school through wraps and the like," she said.
- AAP
