(NaturalPath) It’s time for back to school, so it’s also time for making those to-go lunches for your kids. Oftentimes, juiceboxes are an integral part of a kids’ lunch, but a study advises differently. According to a study out of Deakin University in Australia, schoolchildren who drink fruit juices and fruit drinks are more likely to be overweight or obese than those who don’t.
The amount of fruit juice they studied was more than two glasses (500ml) per day, finding these individuals to be more likely to be overweight or obese.
“These odds increased as the amounts of fruit juice/drink consumed increased,” said one researcher. “Children who drank more than three glasses of soft drink (three quarters of a liter/750ml) or four glasses of fruit juice/drinks (1 liter) on the day in questions were more than twice as likely to be overweight or obese compared with children who did not drink these drinks.”
While many of the kids didn’t drink soft drinks regularly, they consumed large amounts of fruit juices that according to the researcher, “contribute high amounts of energy to kids’ diets’, yet they don’t’ make them feel full.” These kids also ate high amounts of snack food.
Parents need to move to alternative foods that will be healthier and keep the child fuller longer. Some substitutions include a piece of fruit as well as introducing more vegetables into kids’ diets.
Razi Berry, Founder and Publisher of Naturopathic Doctor News & Review (ndnr.com) and NaturalPath (thenatpath.com), has spent the last decade as a natural medicine advocate and marketing whiz. She has galvanized and supported the naturopathic community, bringing a higher quality of healthcare to millions of North Americans through her publications. A self-proclaimed health-food junkie and mother of two; she loves all things nature, is obsessed with organic gardening, growing fruit trees (not easy in Phoenix), laughing until she snorts, and homeschooling. She is a little bit crunchy and yes, that is her real name.