Nutrition, Kids Health | featured news

The real reason parents who would die for their children are comfortable feeding them from boxes and drive-thrus isn't due to a lack of love or concern. It's because society has been so firmly and conclusively duped into believing that doing so is both safe and healthful that it has become our new normal.

The menus offered to children by most U.S. restaurant chains have too many calories, too much salt or fat, and often not a hint of vegetables or fruit, according to a study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The group, which has agitated for everything from healthier popcorn at the movies to calorie labeling in supermarkets, found that among almost 3,500 combinations surveyed, kids' meals failed to meet nutritional standards 97 percent of the time.

Kids with higher levels of the widely used substance BPA in their bodies are more likely to be obese, according to the first large-scale, nationally representative study to link an environmental chemical with obesity in children and teens.

Walt Disney Co. will stop accepting some junk-food ads on TV programs, radio shows and websites aimed at children, according to sources with knowledge of the plan.

America’s intake of sugary foods and drinks has dropped in recent years, but U.S. kids are still consuming too much, government researchers say. Added sugars make up about 16 percent of a typical child's diet, regardless of family income.

Children are now eating 168 more calories from snacks than kids did in 1977, a new study shows.