Just 2% of U.S. Teens Eat Recommended Amount of Veggies

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on HealthDay.

In findings that may ring true to parents, a new government survey shows that a paltry 2% of U.S. high school students are eating enough vegetables.

The study is the latest look at teenagers’ eating habits by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And experts described the results as “disappointing.”

Of more than 13,000 high school students surveyed in 2017, only 2% were getting the minimum recommended allotment of veggies: 2.5 to 3 cups per day.

Fruit, meanwhile, was only mildly more popular. About 7% of high schoolers were getting enough, and 100% fruit juice counted toward those servings.

The figures show no progress since the CDC’s previous report on the topic: In 2013, as well, 2% of high school kids were eating their veggies as recommended.

“The findings aren’t necessarily surprising, but they are discouraging,” said Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut, in Hartford.

The findings, published Jan. 22 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, paint a generally bleak dietary picture.

Vegetable intake was low across the board (among boys and girls, and white, Black, and Hispanic teens). The median veggie intake was just one serving per day, which means half of the students ate even less.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/1-26-just-2-of-u-s-teens-eat-recommended-amount-of-veggies-2650068016.html