For Youth Who Play Sports, Healthy Eating Is Challenging According To Parents

An admission of guilt. It is the parents who are responsible for a kid's "bad eating."

The food and beverages available to youth when they participate in organized sports can often be unhealthy, according to a new study released in the July/August 2012 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. The findings were based on interviews with parents of players participating in youth basketball programs. Common food in youth sport settings were sweets (eg, candy, ice cream, doughnuts), pizza, hot dogs, ''taco-in-a-bag,'' salty snacks (eg, chips, cheese puffs, nachos), as well as soda pop and sports drinks. Parents also reported frequent visits to a fast-food restaurant (eg, McDonald's, Dairy Queen) when their children were playing sports. Parents told researchers they considered these to be unhealthy. Parents said their busy schedules getting to practices and games made them rely more on convenient, but less healthy, foods and beverages.

You can bet that parents of kids who do not engage in sports do even worse by their children.