Food preferences of children aged 6-13

Australian children ranked 6 "fatty" foods as their favourite foods

More than half of Australian adults and one quarter of Australian children are overweight or obese with obesity
related deaths in Victoria being four times higher than Victoria's road toll. The Australian government is under pressure from the World Health Organisation to address its weight crisis.

Roy Morgan Research in Australia asked 1853 children aged 6-13 to name their favourite foods. This is what they found: 1) 90% chose hot chips; 2) 87% pizza; 3) 81% fish and chips; 4) 80% chicken nuggets; 5) 75% barbecue chicken; 6) 74% pies, pasties, hamburgers. The biggest problem with these "fatty" foods is the quality of the fat they are cooked in - which tends to be high in artery clogging saturated fat. Some fast food restaurants, like McDonalds, are switching to a healthier unsaturated frying fat containing canola oil. However, many smaller take away shops use a highly saturated vegetable fat which can also be high in the atherogenic trans fatty acids.

Some more interesting statistics from this survey: 56% of the children said they liked soup or salad; 49% liked "health food"; 81% had eaten at a fast food restaurant in the past month; 32% had eaten at least four times at a fast food restaurant in the past month; fruit was the most common after school snack (43%) but did not feature as a favourite food; 78% of children eat cereal for breakfast; 36% eat sweet biscuits after school; 88% of children said they enjoyed sport.

Why do Australian children have "fatty" food preferences? The Healthy Eating Club editors believe there may be several reasons for these preferences (apart from taste) which require further research - such as:
1. the power of advertising of these products on TV
2. the fact that it is cheaper for parents to take children to currently available "fast food" restaurants that sell hamburgers, fried chicken and pizza than to other "restaurants" that sell mixed dishes like roast meat and vegetables - children thus develop a taste for fatty 'fast' foods from an early age. (in any case, the childrens' menu
at "restaurants" usually consists of`fried foods!)
3. parents may not have the time, desire or the cooking skills to prepare delicious home cooked meals forcing families to source ready made inexpensive meals

What is the solution? The solution needs to include improved cooking skills, a greater variety of ready made inexpensive 'healthy' meals at fast food restaurants and supermarkets and the use of a better quality fat to make these "fatty" fast foods.

Last Updated: Junel 2004