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CDC releases recommendations on fruit, sweet drink consumption for kids

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its recommendations on what kids should be eating after conducting a survey focused on the consumption of fruits, vegetables and drinks sweetened with sugar.

The health agency asked three questions about children between one of five years, requesting that participating households reveal how often vegetables, fruits and drinks with sugar are consumed by children, and how much they had consumed during the previous week.

The CDC said households are "randomly sampled from the Census Bureau's Master Address File" and then they are contacted by mail to see which have at least one child or adolescent.

The CDC foundthat in 2021 at least 32.1% of children between one and five did not eat fruit on a daily basis and that 49.1% did not eat vegetables during the entire week before the survey was conducted. 57.1% of those questioned had a drink sweetened with sugar, according to the responses given to the CDC at that time.

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FILE - This Nov. 19, 2013 file photo shows a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention logo at the agency's federal headquarters in Atlanta. On Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, the CDC released new guidance stating that new mothers can breastfeed if they either have COVID-19 or suspect they have the virus. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

2.4% of the respondents did not answer at least one item and were excluded from the findings.

The CDC indicated that many children do not have enough fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, but they were regularly consuming sugary drinks.

According to the agency's data, out of 20 U.S. states, over half of the children from those states did not eat a vegetable daily during the entire week before the survey, according to responses.

Out of children from 40 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, over half of those kids consumed a sugary drink at least once in the week before the survey.