EVEN before their second birthday, many American children are developing the same bad eating habits that plague the nation's adults --- too much fat, sugar and salt and too few fruits and vegetables.

A new study has found significant numbers of infants and toddlers are downing French fries, pizza, candy and soda.

Children aged 1 to 2 years require about 950 calories per day, but the study found that the median intake for that age group is 1,220 calories, --- an excess of nearly 30 percent. For those 7 to 11 months old, the daily caloric surplus was about 20 percent.

Recent research has found that roughly one in every five Americans is now considered obese, double the rate in the mid-1980s.

The study involved random telephone interviews conducted in 2002 that asked parents or primary care-givers what their youngsters aged 4 months to 2 years ate that particular day.

Up to one-third of the children under 2 consumed no fruits or vegetables, according to the survey. And for those who did have a vegetable, French fries were the most common selection for children aged 15 months and older.

Nine percent of children 9 to 11 months old ate fries at least once daily. For those 19 months to 2 years old, more than 20 percent had fries daily.

Hot dogs, sausage and bacon also were daily staples for many children --- 7 percent in the 9- to11-month group, and 25 percent in the older range.

More than 60 percent of 12-month-olds had dessert or candy at least once per day, and 16 percent ate a salty snack. Those numbers rose to 70 percent and 27 percent by 19 months.

Thirty to 40 percent of the children 15 months and up had a sugary fruit drink each day, and about 10 percent had soda.

The study also found that parents were ignoring widely accepted practices by allowing: 29 percent of infants to eat solid food before they were 4 months old. 17 percent to drink juice before 6 months. 20 percent to drink cow's milk before 12 months.
 

Editor: Wings