Pediatricians: During your next office hours, conduct some covert reconnaissance of your waiting room. How many young patients and their parents have packed snacks for the visit? Observing whether a family's munchies are from the -itos food group — Cheetos, Doritos, and Fritos — might offer valuable information about the advice and intervention a family needs from you to adopt healthy eating patterns and make good dietary choices.
In a study published in the April issue of Clinical Pediatrics, a group of researchers conducted an observational study of patients in the waiting rooms of the pediatric clinics affiliated with the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. To document the prevalence of the consumption of "junk foods" among patients, clinic staff completed a cross-sectional, 23-item survey of the foods they observed patients eating.
Snack choice observations were recorded from June 2, 2011, to March 2, 2012. All told, 738 families with children from 4 months to 16 years of age (not including exclusively breastfed or bottle-fed children) were included in the study. Most children and parents observed in the study were African American, and most were covered by the Texas Medicaid program.
The researchers observed the consumption of snacks and drinks at one in five of all clinic visits. Of the more than 21% of families eating snacks in the waiting room, more than 96% packed unhealthy foods. Less than 4% packed healthy snacks such as fruits and vegetables.
The authors observed that pediatric patients whose families brought junk food to an office visit overall had a higher body mass index than those who did not. What's more, they found that 66% of African American visitors consumed unhealthy snacks while waiting, while 29% of Hispanic patients and less than 2% of white patients munched on junk food in the office. Notably, not a single Asian family was observed with junk food during the 9-month study period.
—Michael Gerchufsky
Reference
Frazier JP, Land M, Hsieh P-H, Barratt MS. Junk food seen at pediatric clinic visits: is it a problem? Clin Pediatr. 2014;53(4):320-325.