20pc AMERICAN CHILDREN DON'T DRINK WATER

TUESDAY 23rd APRIL 2019 


Research from a Pennsylvania State University Water, Health, and Nutrition Lab at Penn, has reported that on a given day, some 20% American children don't drink any water.  Doubly concerning is the fact that instead they consume sugar-sweetened beverages [SSBs] and thereby gain some 200 calories a day. This, the researchers say, underscores the importance of children having free access to clean water. 


While an extra 200 calories may not seem like a lot, continue the researchers, it can add up quickly when kids are downing SSBs on a regular basis. They added " What you have to remember is that an extra 3,500 calories equals one pound of weight gain, so if you're not compensating for those extra calories, then over a month, you can potentially gain a pound. Over several months, that could add up."
 
NOF COMMENT: " Lamentably millions of  UK parents persist in giving their kids sweetened drink from infancy.  This makes it their default choice and they will scream if they don't get it.  Things have to change if we want to avoid the levels reported in the US.  Parents should be continually reminded that water is undeniably the healthiest freely available beverage - not only for children but for them, too.  Hopefully, within years we will see free water fountains on every high street to remind them.  The Victorians ensured that there was one in every park: now, 150 years later, the government has pledged that there will be the same in every public place"