Among young Latino children, the rate is 70 percent; overall, one in ten young children eats three or more fast food meals per week. The majority of children also fall short of the state standard on fruit and vegetable consumption, with only 57 percent of parents reporting that their child ate at least five fruit and vegetable servings the previous day. Asian children have the lowest levels of fruit and vegetable consumption, and both Asian and Latino parents report lower levels of influence over their children’s diets than do White and African-American parents.

The report indicates that given the poor trajectory for children who are overweight before they reach age six, investments in programs that help reduce fast food consumption and promote eating more fruits and vegetables (for example, serving fruit instead of fruit juice) may be among the policy solutions that will help improve young children’s health.

Nationally, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children started to rise in the 1980s and doubled between 1980 and 2000. Today, about one-fourth of children ages two to five are overweight or obese. Low-income and minority children are at greatest risk for overweight at an early age.

Despite the association between fast food and soda consumption, there has been a sharp decline in the number of very young children drinking sugar-sweetened beverages in California.

In 2009, the proportion of soda consumption remained significantly higher among Latino children than among White and Asian children. However, the percentage of Latino children who drank soda the previous day decreased from slightly less than half in 2003 (46.7 percent) to 22.1 percent in 2009.

Although the proportion of children drinking soda has declined significantly, Latino families merit particular attention regarding soda intake: half of all children under age five in California are Latino, and young Latino children continue to have significantly higher levels of soda consumption than young children in all other racial/ethnic groups.

Source: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Majority of Young Children in California Eat Fast Food Regularly but Drink Less Soda, November 2013.