serve (PROVIDE FOOD/DRINK)
Heavily marketed kids' cereals are least healthy
專家對161種品牌早餐乾穀片（cereal）進行的分析，發現為兒童製造的乾穀片不如成人產品健康，而且廣告作得最兇的兒童乾穀片營養品質最差。
主持這項研究的耶魯大學研究員施瓦茲（Marlene Schwartz）說：「父母自己吃的乾穀片，可能比給孩子吃的乾穀片還好。」
研究發現，兒童乾穀片標示的健康說明經常有誤導之嫌，標示「低脂」或「低糖」的乾穀片，熱量並未較低，號稱「全穀」的品牌雖然纖維確實較多，可是鹽分、糖分和脂肪不下於其他品牌，熱量也一樣高。
由「美國飲食協會期刊」發表的這項研究報告指出，食品業和公共衛生當局都鼓勵兒童吃早餐，尤其是馬上就可以吃的乾穀片。
di・e・tet・ic
di・e・tet・ics n. 食餌療法; 栄養学.
di・e・ti・tian, di・e・ti・cian
n. 栄養士［学者］.研究結果發現，與成人乾穀片相比，兒童乾穀片每公克的糖分、鹽分、碳水化合物和熱量都比較高，蛋白質和纖維卻較少。
糖分平均占兒童乾穀片整體重量的三分之一以上，在成人乾穀片只占不到四分之一。兒童乾穀片有34%符合學校出售的食品的營養標準，成人乾穀片則有56%符合標準。
Heavily marketed kids' cereals are least healthy
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Breakfast cereals for children are less healthy than cereals meant for adults, and those marketed the most aggressively to kids have the worst nutritional quality, according to a new analysis of 161 brands.
"The cereal the parent is eating him or herself is probably better than what they're feeding their child," Dr. Marlene B. Schwartz of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, the lead researcher on the study, told Reuters Health.
Schwartz and her colleagues also found that health claims made for kids' cereals were often misleading. Cereals sold as "low fat" or "low sugar" were not lower in calories, as parents might assume, and while brands touted as "whole grain" did have more fiber, they had just as much salt, sugar and fat as other brands and the same calorie content.
The food industry and public health authorities are both encouraging children to eat breakfast, especially ready-to-eat cereals, the researchers note in their report in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. To compare the nutritional quality of cereals targeted to children and those marketed to adults, Schwartz and her team looked at 161 cereals, 46 percent of which were marketed to children. A cereal was put in this category if it had a character on the box, toys or games inside, or the company's Web site listed the brand as a children's cereal.
Children's cereals had more sugar, sodium, carbohydrate and calories per gram than non-children's cereals, and less protein and fiber. Sugar accounted for more than one-third of the weight of children's cereals, on average, compared to less than one-quarter of the adult cereals. Thirty-four percent of the kids' cereals met nutrition standards for foods sold in schools, compared to 56 percent of the non-children's cereals, Schwartz and her colleagues report.
Parents hoping to choose healthy cereals for their kids should look for brands containing 4 grams of sugar per serving (about one teaspoon) or less, Schwartz advised, and should aim for 4 grams of fiber per bowl of cereal.
As a psychologist, Schwartz says, she urges parents who want to ban heavily marketed cereals from their homes to stick to their guns. "My advice to parents of young children is you've got to just make a decision and stick with it because if you give in once, you're going to regret it. It's just going to make your kid nag you even more."
SOURCE: Journal of the American Dietetic Association, April 2006.
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