A recent study has uncovered new information about the amount of pizza the average American child consumes.

The study, conducted by the Illinois Prevention Research Center, found that pizza is the second highest source of calories for children ages 2 to 18. Pizza is second only to grain desserts such as cookies and pie.

To figure out exactly how much pizza children and adolescents were eating, the study first divided the sample into two groups: kids ages 2 to 11 and teens ages 12 to 18. The researchers then looked at the diet of both groups between 2003 and 2010.

The study found that on any given day, 20 percent of both kids and teens consumed pizza. On days that the participants consumed pizza as a meal, the kid group’s average daily caloric intake increased by 84 calories and the teen group’s increased by 230 calories. When pizza was consumed as a snack, children ate an extra 202 calories and teens gained 365 calories.

This led the researchers to conclude that due to the dietary effects of pizza, consumption of the food “should be curbed and its nutrient content improved.

“This is not saying don’t eat pizza,” said study co-author Lisa Powell, director of the Illinois Prevention Research Center, according to ThinkProgress. “It’s a nice opportunity for us to make some small changes because it’s such a prevalent item in children’s diets. Hopefully we can make healthy pizza the norm.”

The authors of the study also recommend that physicians and pediatricians discuss pizza consumption with parents during nutritional discussions. They believe that focusing on specific foods rather than general nutrients will make for more effective dietary counseling.

“These observations emphasize that pizza, like sugary drinks, may be a significant contributor to excess caloric intake and obesity, and should become a target for counseling for the prevention and treatment of obesity in pediatric practice,” they wrote in the study.

The study was published in the scientific journal Pediatrics.