Recent statistics show downward trends in the number of calories
eaten by children and the amount of fast food people are eating
in general. But the findings, although positive, haven’t put the
brakes on the country’s obesity epidemic, something that Abilene
experts say will take an even greater emphasis on diet and
exercise. The findings, from the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey, show that from 1999 to 2010, the average
caloric intake for boys ages 2-19 declined from 2,260 calories a
day to 2,100. Girls in the same age range ate fewer calories,
too — down to 1,760 from 1,830. A dip in the consumption of
carbohydrates — sugars — may be partly responsible, dropping 1
percent for both boys and girls. Other research shows that
adults are getting 11 percent of their calories from fast foods,
down from 13 percent the last time such a survey was conducted.
Those are all good trends, Abilene health experts agreed Friday.
But they may not be enough. Daniel W. Alley, a family practice
physician with A