Contents

1. The percent of the population overweight in the Capital Area has overtaken the Statewide average.
   
   
2. The biggest increase in overweight has occurred among younger people.
   
   
3. Overweight is most prevalent among people with lower incomes, especially if they are older.
   
   
4. Behavioral Risk Factor data on diets underestimates the number of servings of grains. This makes it difficult to accurately model the relationship between diet and other health and lifestyle factors.
   
   
5. The percentage of the Capital Area population that eats fruits and vegetables is slightly below the State and National averages.
   
   
6. Younger people, especially males, are unlikely to eat many servings of fruits and vegetables.
   
   
7. People who ate more fruits and vegetables weighed less. Those who ate more meat and dairy weighed more.
   
   
8. One-third of adults, and one-fifth of children do not eat breakfast. Children who eat breakfast mostly eat sugary cereals.
   
   
9. Older adults eat more grains, and less sugary cereals and less fat.
   
   
10. More than half the breakfast entres of children consist of "empty calorie" items like sugary cereals and toaster waffles.
    
    
11. The breakfast eating behavior of children is not related to poverty.
    
    
12. Children whose parents ate healthy were twice as likely to eat healthy themselves.
    
    
13. As children grow into teens the likelyhood of eating breakfast declines sharply. Other studies show that skipping breakfast affects school performance, and affects eating behavior throughout the day.
    
    

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Last updated:
September 25, 2000 (Monday)

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