Fats 'needed in children's diets'
Updated on 16 August 2007
Parents should not restrict their children to low-fat diets despite concerns about obesity, experts have warned.
Fat can be included as part of a healthy and balanced diet and has an important role in helping youngsters grow, they said.
The message, published as part of a new study, comes a day after pregnant women were warned that upping their intake of fatty and sugary food could put their child at risk of obesity, claiming children exposed to "maternal junk food" in the womb or early in life may find it harder to resist an unhealthy diet as they grow older.
However the new research, published in the Nutrition Journal, says fat should be included as part of a healthy diet. It found that children burn more body fat than adults for each calorie used up.
A US team, led by John Kostyak from Pennsylvania State University, used a range of "calorimetry" tests for their research.
Ten children (five boys, five girls) aged six to 10-years-old and 10 adults (five men, five women) were recruited for the study. All had a body mass index within the healthy range and were given a standard diet for three days prior to each test, although portion sizes were adjusted according to an estimate of each person's calorie requirements.
The team found that the total amount of fat burned by children did not differ greatly to that burned by adults.
However, the children were found to burn considerably more fat relative to the amount of energy they used. Women and girls used fat at a higher rate than men and boys of a similar age.
The authors concluded that dietary fat recommendations are higher for children aged four to 18 (25 to 35% of energy) compared with adults (20 to 35% of energy).
However, they said that despite this, "many parents and children restrict dietary fat for health reasons."
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