A new study shows that two out of three Romanian children eat candies or cakes every day, while 30% don’t eat fruit on a daily basis.
The authors of the study which was published Monday said they wanted to raise an alarm about what they called a “national emergency” about bad eating habits.
They said parents should be aware about possible long-term effects on youngsters.
The study by Reveal Marketing Research found that 65% of children under 14 ate chocolates, candies and cakes every day.
Some 22% of parents said their children eat sweets two or three times a day. Nutritionists recommend only once or twice a week, the study published by Agerpres said.
Some 43% of parents said their children drunk carbonated drinks such as coca cola, bottled lemonade at least once a week. Some 14% chose to drink something fizzy rather than water when they were thirsty.
About half of parents said they regularly give their children crisps, snacks or hotdogs or other processed meat.
Only 35% of parents said their children had a “generally healthy” diet.
Half of those interviewed said they let their children eat processed food at least once a week, while 12% said they often opted for processed food rather than fresh food. Even so, 56% said that processed food was unhealthy.
Three parents out of ten said their children didn’t eat fresh food every day,
The study on children’s eating habits was carried on behalf of the Association for Social Responsibility „Plan B” and Kaufland Romania.
Reveal Marketing Research interviewed 801 people from August 25 to September 5. It had a 3.5% margin of error.
