It seems counterintuitive, until you read a few articles on the subject: a recent study by the University of Minnesota found that kids who play sports–organized team sports, which you’d think would get them more exercise–tend to eat more junk food and actually, maybe, be at increased risk of obesity.
“These studies reported that youth involved in sport were more likely to consume fruits, vegetables, and milk, and also more likely to eat fast food and drink sugar-sweetened beverages and consume more calories overall.”
The Chicago Tribune wrote about this study last month, worrying about sponsorships of children’s sports leagues by soft drink manufacturers (there are plenty of examples online, including this one a Louisiana TV station reports on). And the health communications group “Reporting on Health” went on a very constructive, informative rant about how easy it is to find images showing corporate soft-drink sponsorship of children’s sports.
So the upshot is…even though obesity is often exacerbated by inactivity, and all this time we’ve been thinking kids gain weight when they sit at home and play video games, it may well be that getting involved in sports teams is as harmful as it would be helpful. Who knew that could be the case?
This is why nuanced health reporting and education is so important! Kids who play sports are probably more likely to consume fast food because they are on the road for practice/games, and their families and coaches don't know how to pack healthy snacks and meals in advance. There is also a cultural belief that sports drinks are a necessary/cool part of the sports experience, which for almost all sports participants (young or old) is not necessary!
What I don't like about this Tribune article is that it leads with a catchy tag line that leaves parents thinking there is nothing they can do to help their kids avoid obesity and its comordibities. Parents would be better served by an article that focuses on the basics: we gain weight by overconsumption; we lose weight by decreasing food intake; we keep weight off/maintain weight through exercise. There's not much choice – kids need healthy food AND sports!
Interesting issue – I feel like this would be a great opportunity for some qualitative interviews with families to better understand, as Linden suggested, the possible reasons why student athletes may be eating more unhealthy food than are their peers. This to me seems like critical information to be able to interpret the results of this study at all. Also, while I haven’t read the original article itself, consuming “more calories” (depending on how much more and how nutritious those calories are) may not be a bad thing for highly active kids.