Letter: U.S. kids have unhealthy diet

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 | 8:54 a.m.

I could not agree more sadly or completely with Frederick A. Farris' April 25 letter, "World is full of immoral adults," that "the vast majority of people are cavemen in designer clothes without morals or ethics."

It is the conclusion of many that most American parents are almost heartless barbarians who knowingly and needlessly inflict avoidable harm on their own children.

We all know that an unwholesome diet is the main contributor to preventable diseases and premature death; yet, how many parents care more about their children's welfare than their own gustatory gratification? To me, nothing is more evil than making toxic "food" addicts of one's own children.

The 25-year Bogalusa Heart Study confirmed that our nation's No.1 killer, heart disease, is an avoidable disease that begins in early childhood. It affirmed that children who eat a typical American diet have fatty deposits in their coronary arteries by age 3. These deposits worsen by the mid-teens, and virtually every U.S. adult has them by age 21.

The American Health Foundation found that throughout the world, wherever the adult death rate from coronary disease is high, the cholesterol levels of that nation's children are also high.

KAREN MARCUS