Kids' all time favorite

According to a recent survey by a dairy product distributor, Hungarian children have more milk than any other type of dairy product, but don’t necessarily eat enough meat or eggs to support their daily protein needs.

The findings of the survey show that kids at the age of 6-15 have more milk than meat, cold cuts, fresh fruit or vegetables. Some 80% of youngsters eat dairy products every day, or several times a day. Thus dairies are the main protein sources of this age group, with milk being by far the most popular product. Though 71% of children already have milk daily, most mothers believe they should incorporate more milk in their meal plan.

Of those queried, 55% have fresh fruit every day as opposed to fresh vegetables, which only 44% take daily. The consumption of frozen food is not that typical in this age group: nearly 60% eat them less than weekly. Surprisingly, salted crisps are not so popular, and are only consumed daily by 9% of the polled. Sweets are more appealing, with nearly 30% yielding to their temptation every day. The proportion of cereals and soft drink in children’s daily menus is below 30%.

The daily consumption of cold meats is only 27%, fairly low, with which children are unlikely to meet their daily protein needs. Protein intake is way higher than that of the adults, says Zsolt Vági, a nutritionist of the International Nutrition Research Institute. He advices that children have at least half a liter of milk every day or other dairy products containing the same amount of calcium. Beyond that, meat and eggs are needed to meet their protein and calcium demand. According to the respondents, 28% of children follow a healthy diet while 6% eat badly. (Mona Kft, a distributor for dairy producer Montice carried out the survey. The respondents were mothers aged 29-46.)