A study published Monday in Pediatrics showed that apple is the most common fruit that young people in the United States consumed every day. The fruit accounts for about 19% fruit intake among youngsters aged 2 to 19, in the country, according to the study.

The study also showed that about 90% of total fruit intake came from whole fruits, while 100% came from fruit juices. On an average, the US kids consumed about 1.25 cups of fruit daily, the study said. The average of fruit intake showed in the study is within the range recommended by the US Department of Agriculture, which said that kids should consume 1 to 2 cups of fruit a day.

Researchers noted that kids, aged 2 to 19 years, eat more apples than kids between 2 and 5 years. Hispanic and Asian children got over 50% of their fruit intake from whole fruits, while black children got just 43% their fruit intake from whole fruits, the researchers said.

Eva Almiron-Roig, a Dietary Assessment Research Scientist at MRC Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge, said children prefer to consume apple because the fruit is easy to pack and palatable. Almiron-Roig, who was not part of the study, said, "Young children may find it difficult to chew a whole hard fruit, or eat it with the skin. There is also the issue about… whether soda may squeeze out fruit juice consumption in older children or children from specific ethnic backgrounds".