Childhood obesity prevention by reducing a child's calorie intake by 165 calories By Chris Rosenbloom, Cox News Service
Last update: May 30, 2007 3:10 PM
ATLANTA -- Childhood obesity is a major worldwide public health problem. In the United States, obesity among preschool children has doubled from 1994 to 2004, and it has tripled in children 6 to 11 years old.
There is a lot of finger pointing about what is to blame for this epidemic: television, video games, fast food, lack of physical activity in schools and unsafe public spaces for play, just to name a few.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health took an interesting approach to suggest another piece of the puzzle. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a national survey of health and nutrition, they calculated what they called the "energy gap." Based on the rate of weight gain that occurred in children between 1988 and 1994, they suggest that reducing calories (or increasing physical activity) by just 110 to 165 calories a day could have prevented weight gain.
So what if we "mind the gap"? What would it take to eat 110 to 165 fewer calories per day? It is not as hard as you might think. This easy step could have big consequences for your children.
When you compare the energy gap from food vs. exercise, it is easy to see why reducing calories is so important in winning the battle against childhood obesity. It takes only a minute to inhale 150 calories of food, but it takes a whole lot longer to burn off calories.
Parents can help their children by providing healthful snacks and monitoring portion sizes of the kid-friendly foods their children might choose to eat.
WHERE CALORIES COUNT
8 vanilla wafers, 140 calories
1 1/2 tablespoons of extra-crunch peanut butter, 145 calories
2 Red Vines licorice sticks, 140 calories
5 cheese snack crackers, 125 calories
2/3 cup Chex Mix, 130 calories
13 potato chips, 150 calories
12 ounces of cola, 150 calories
1 (1.08-ounce) tube of M&M minis, 150 calories
1 (1.8-ounce) bag of Sour Skittles, 200 calories
36 Cheez-It snack crackers, 160 calories
1 piece of pepperoni pizza-flavored stuffed Hot Pocket, 160 calories
3 Oreo cookies, 160 calories
1 Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, 140 calories
3 McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, 130 calories
Half-order of McDonald's small French fries, 125 calories
Wendy's junior vanilla Frosty, 150 calories
1 breadstick from Papa John's, 140 calories
1 slice of a medium thin-crust cheese pizza from Domino's, 130 calories
1 ounce Doritos Cool Ranch Chips, 140 calories
1 crunchy Taco Bell taco, 150 calories
Half of a soft Taco Bell beef supreme taco, 130 calories
Half of an order of Taco Bell Nachos Supreme, 160 calories
EXERCISE CLOSES THE 'GAP'
On the exercise side of the energy gap, here is what a 100-pound teen would have to do to burn 150 calories:
Pitch a baseball, 38 minutes
Play half-court basketball, 50 minutes
Play touch football, 45 minutes
Shoot pool, 100 minutes
Roller skate, 36 minutes
Play Ping-Pong, 44 minutes Walk (2 miles at 30-minute pace), 71 minutes
Childhood Obesity Prevention 
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