Attitudes and Behaviors of American Youth - Junk Food

A July 2002 report from the market research firm BuzzBack, Understanding Teen Attitudes and Behaviors around Health and Nutrition, found that a majority of teens (69%) would like to improve the way they eat, especially girls (78%, compared with 60% of boys), but fewer than half (42%) said they regularly tried to eat foods that were good for them. Sixty-four percent of teens consumed carbonated soft drinks, 64% ate whatever was available, and only 29% of teens thought about nutrition when they selected foods. Researchers found in 2002 that more than half of bag lunches brought to school by young adolescents had more than the recommended amount of fat; bag lunches averaged about twenty-one grams of sugar; only one in twenty bag lunches contained vegetables; and chips, snacks, or cookies were found in 40% of lunches (Terry L. Conway et al., "What Do Middle School Children Bring in Their Bag Lunches?" Preventive Medicine, vol. 24, 2002).