EDITORIAL: Maintain healthy habits for children during summer vacation

by Nadim Kanafani, MD

During summer vacation, children and adolescents are often placed in a different nutrition and physical activity environment compared with that present during the school year. In some situations, studies show that children and adolescents who may have made gains in fitness during the school year may lose these gains during the summer. In addition, certain groups of at-risk children, including black and Hispanic children, or those who are already overweight may gain weight more quickly during the summer. With parents continuing busy work schedules, young children may be placed in day care or camp settings where nutrition standards may not exist. Older children and adolescents are often home alone and left unsupervised with regard to their eating and activity habits.

The nutrition environment for low-income families may be especially challenging because their ability to access healthy meals through federally supported school meal programs may be reduced. Families may increase their consumption of cheaper but nutritionally poor fast food, sweetened beverages, junk food and frozen meals, putting these children and adolescents at risk for excess weight gain. For these families, making them aware of sites in the community offering the US Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program may make access to healthy eating options easier.

For children and adolescents, parental control of the home food environment is an essential strategy to reduce consumption of excess calories and support healthy eating habits during unstructured summer months. Parents may need to alter their shopping habits during summer months when their children are home more. For example, reducing the purchasing of juices, snack foods, breakfast cereals, frozen foods and desserts, and placing bowls of fresh fruits on the dining room table will help direct children to healthier snacks. Parents should be educated about new recommendations from the AAP, suggesting that sports drinks containing added sugar are unnecessary for children participating in routine summertime physical activities and sports. Energy drinks also contain added sugar and caffeine and have no place in the diet of children and adolescents.

Finally, no discussion of summer nutrition in children would be complete without addressing TV and screen-based activities. Studies show that although children are spending more time on the Internet, they are still watching commercial TV more than ever. Marketing of junk food, sports and energy drinks, and fast food is especially intense during the summer months. It is critical for parents to set limits and rules about screen-based activities for their children and adolescents. The goals should be to reduce exposure to food marketing, allow more time for physical activity and facilitate family meals.

Health care providers can support families who are confronted with changes in routine and schedules presented by summer vacation by heightening attention to the risk for increased weight gain during the summer months, educating parents about the importance of controlling the nutrition environment in their home and emphasizing physical activity and family meals. These healthy habits will also lay the groundwork for year-round efforts to sustain good nutrition and healthy weights in children and adolescents.

Follow the PediatricSuperSite.com on Twitter.