American Academy of Pediatrics Recommends Cold Pizza for Children's Breakfast

In their brochure, "What's to Eat? Healthy Foods for Hungry Children" (subscription required), the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends for a "good start" to "carry a child through an active morning" the odd "breakfast idea" of leftover spaghetti or pizza, served hot or cold. Even before I learned about the Paleo diet I knew that cold pizza was nowhere near a health food, and had never heard of it being recommended as a good breakfast food for children.

Not surprisingly, the AAP receives funding from such corporate sources as the Sugar Association and the International Food Information Council (the public relations arm of the food and beverage industries, including the Sugar Association, the National Soft Drink Association, makers of food additives, McDonald’s Corporation, Kraft Foods, M&M/Mars, etc.).

As I remember it, it used to be that pretty much everyone recognized that cold pizza or spaghetti made from refined grains was not health food or a good way to get energy for the day and certainly not breakfast food. The thinking behind cereal for breakfast is that whole grains provide fiber and are therefore healthy (bogus of course--but the standard view). I'm not sure what the AAP's thinking behind refined-grain pizza and spaghetti is. Maybe this is part of the carb-loading insanity--or maybe they were just guided by the modern food industry that funds them.