Preschool veggie eaters still scarf down snacks.

• Position: Nutrition - Brief article

Public-health specialists long have expected that kids who eat more carrots and apples are less likely to consume a lot of candy and fries, but research published in Maternal and Child Health Journal is calling that into question, as preschoolers from low-income neighborhoods who ate fruits and vegetables and drank milk many times every day were just as likely to eat foods high in sugar, salt, and fat as those who rarely eat healthy foods.

"We assumed that children who ate a lot of healthy foods would also be children who did not eat a lot of unhealthy foods," notes epidemiologist Sarah Anderson. "I just thought that was the way the world was and it turned out not to be the case at all."

When she and her colleagues looked for connections, studying their data in multiple ways, they found zero link. It is too soon to call for policy changes based on this work alone, the researchers indicate, but, if replicated in a larger study that is underway...