Childhood Obesity News and Research

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Cheese-vegetable combo helps children to reduce caloric intake

Want your children to be healthier snackers? A new Cornell study finds that serving children combined snacks of vegetables and cheese led them to eat 72 percent fewer calories - and be just as satisfied as those who were served only potato chips.

18 Dec 2012

Roundup: Some medical students forced to change course after Sandy; N.C. patients pay for more when docs employed by hospital

After completing a medical rotation in pediatrics, Hannah Kirsch was looking forward to starting another one in psychiatry at New York City's Bellevue Hospital -- but then Hurricane Sandy hit. Kirsch is among about 170 third-year and fourth-year medical students at New York University who were required to change their plans after two of NYU's academic training hospitals, NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue, temporarily closed due to extensive flood damage.

17 Dec 2012

New partnership to promote good nutrition in early childcare and education programs

Today, Dole Food Company and Lt. Governor Casey Cagle's Healthy Kids Georgia Program announced a partnership with the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning to promote good nutrition and increased physical activity in early childcare and education programs.

15 Dec 2012

Later puberty onset protective against testicular cancer

Males who undergo puberty late appear to have a lower than average risk for developing testicular cancer, report scientists, who emphasize that early puberty is not associated with an increased cancer risk.

12 Dec 2012

Examining Americans' health: Longer, but sicker, lives; Childhood obesity drops

A new report finds Americans may be living longer thanks to medical advances, but they may also be sicker. Meanwhile, childhood obesity may be dropping in several cities around the nation.

12 Dec 2012

Strong association between bedroom TV viewing and childhood obesity

The average American child from age 8 to 18 watches about 4.5 hours of TV each day. Seventy percent have a TV in the bedroom and about one-third of youth aged 6-19 is considered obese.

11 Dec 2012

Metformin therapy improves BMI and fasting glucose levels in obese children

Metformin therapy has a beneficial treatment effect over placebo in improving body mass index (BMI) and fasting glucose levels in obese children, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). The study showed reduction in BMI was sustained for six months.

11 Dec 2012

Childhood obesity: an interview with Professor Clodagh O’Gorman

Childhood obesity is harder to define than adult obesity. This is because any definition of obesity relies on measurements of both height and weight, and the calculation of body mass index (BMI) based on these measurements.

10 Dec 2012

Researchers discover four new gene regions that contribute to low birth weight

An international team of genetics researchers has discovered four new gene regions that contribute to low birth weight. Three of those regions influence adult metabolism, and appear to affect longer-term outcomes such as adult height, risk of type 2 diabetes and adult blood pressure.

3 Dec 2012

Researchers study effects of food logos on obese and healthy weight children

Rates of childhood obesity have tripled in the past 30 years, and food marketing has been implicated as one factor contributing to this trend. Every year, companies spend more than $10 billion in the US marketing their food and beverages to children; 98% of the food products advertised to children on television are high in fat, sugar, or sodium. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers used neuroimaging to study the effects of food logos on obese and healthy weight children.

30 Nov 2012

Article highlights Asian-American children’s variable vulnerability to obesity

Asian-American children have been at low risk for being overweight or obese compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., but that may be changing. Yet as rates of overweight and obesity rise, the risk appears to vary depending on the Asian country of origin, according to an article in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

30 Nov 2012

Risk score predicts childhood obesity in newborns

Researchers have developed a tool to assess a newborn baby’s risk for child or adolescent obesity based on various demographic characteristics.

29 Nov 2012

Childhood obesity risk can be predicted at birth

A simple formula can predict at birth a baby's likelihood of becoming obese in childhood, according to a study published today in the open access journal PLOS ONE.

29 Nov 2012

Link between high fructose corn syrup intake and diabetes prevalence

A new study by University of Southern California (USC) and University of Oxford researchers indicates that large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in national food supplies across the world may be one explanation for the rising global epidemic of type 2 diabetes and resulting higher health care costs.

28 Nov 2012

International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals symposium to be held in Nevada

The International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (iaedp) announces its 2013 Symposium slated for March 21-24 at the Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa in Henderson, Nevada. The program is celebrating its 27th year with five keynote speakers as headliners addressing innovative approaches to eating disorder treatment as well as thirty-two workshop presenters and preconference training sessions.

20 Nov 2012

Obesity and dental cavities increase and become epidemic as homeless children age

Obesity and dental cavities increase and become epidemic as children living below the poverty level age, according to nurse researchers from the Case Western Reserve University and the University of Akron.

14 Nov 2012

Study highlights how parents can help children achieve healthy lifestyle habits

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 28% of adolescents are overweight. This means that about 1 in every 5 parents is thinking about how to discuss this with their child. Creating a healthful home environment, modeling healthful behaviors, and providing encouragement and support to adolescents for positive behavior changes may be more effective than communicating with adolescents about weight-related topics, according to a new study released in the November/December 2012 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

9 Nov 2012

Roundup: Dallas approves stipend for gay, unmarried employees; Federal judge says Milwaukee can raise retiree contribution

Dallas County will give a stipend to unmarried and gay employees who provide health care benefits to their partners. County commissioners approved the new program in a narrow 3-2 vote, which was split along party lines. Democratic commissioners hailed the move as a way to attract and retain talent, embrace the county's diversity and compete against private companies who already provide domestic partner benefits.

1 Nov 2012

Study examines impact of school-based obesity intervention program

Soda consumption, TV and video/computer games, and the frequency of meals heavily influenced students' weight in an Indiana University study that examined the impact of a school-based obesity intervention program over an 18-month period.

1 Nov 2012

Behavioural treatment can be very effective for severely obese children

A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that behavioural treatment for inducing weight-loss can be very effective for severely obese children. However, the treatment to change dietary and exercise habits must be given in time, as it showed to have little effect on adolescents with the same problem.

31 Oct 2012