24 August/September 2000 Zero to Three

Feeding young children a healthy diet is a challenge. U.S. national nutritional surveys show that more than half of children under 3 years fail to get recommended intakes of the essential nutrients, and the problem is not just confined to poor families (Centers for Disease Con-trol, 1994; Kennedy & Goldberg, 1995). In some ways, today’s children are worse off nutritionally than those raised a generation ago. They eat more foods containing few vitamins and minerals, and, in particular, soda has replaced milk as the national beverage (Liebman, 1998). Problems are even seen in families that make nutrition a priority. For example, parents who never serve eggs and red meat (to limit cholesterol) are keeping children away from the most concentrated sources of vitamins and minerals that could help bridge the nutrient gap. Growth failure has even been reported in some children of very health-conscious families whose extremely low-fat, whole-food diet was right for the parents but con-tained insufficient calories to allow for normal child-hood weight gain. Another concern is that many of today’s young chil-dren are extremely sedentary. Average energy require-ments are now 15 to 20 percent lower than government recommendations (Prentice et al. 1988), and this makes it hard even for children who generally eat well to con-sume enough vitamins and minerals, because total food intake is so small. Low energy requirements also make overeating and obesity more likely. Sedentary children whose appetites exceed their energy needs may suffer the double tragedy of being simultaneously overfed and undernourished. The question of whether the poor nutritional intake of today’s children really matters is an important one. Exactly how important is good nutrition in early child-hood? New information accumulating from research studies from around the world offers strong evidence that the foods consumed early in life have long-last-ing—and in some cases permanent—effects (Ciba Foun