Childhood Obesity News and Research

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New ways to treat overeating in children and adults

Overeating, whether in children or adults, often takes place even in the absence of hunger, resulting in weight gain and obesity. Current methods to treat such overeating in youth focus on therapies that restrict what kids may eat, requiring them to track their food intake and engage in intensive exercise.

8 Dec 2011

Are parents and pediatricians turning a blind eye to their kids’ weight gain?

Childhood obesity is fast becoming a major problem in the United States. However a new study shows that parents, pediatricians and even nursery schools or kindergartens have not really paid the attention the problem needs.

7 Dec 2011

Endocrine Society supports policies that aim to combat pediatric obesity

Today, The Endocrine Society issued a Position Statement supporting policies that bring together doctors and other healthcare providers, family, schools and the community to combat pediatric obesity through education and encouragement of lifestyle modifications.

6 Dec 2011

New website helps raise awareness about childhood obesity

A new website has been launched to help raise awareness of work being done in the East Midlands region of the UK to tackle childhood obesity and to seek the views of parents and healthcare professionals.

6 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: GOP leaders, Obama share link to mandate; expensive benefits for seniors

I don't want to focus on the differences between Romney and Gingrich. I want to focus on the commonalities. Because these two men have a lot in common with not only each other but also with President Obama. Both Gingrich and Romney, for instance, supported a universal health care plan backed by an individual mandate requiring all Americans of means to purchase health-care insurance - just as Obama does.

30 Nov 2011

Large disparities exist in obesity and other chronic diseases across racial/ethnic groups

Large disparities exist in obesity and other chronic diseases across racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Are racial differences in diet, exercise, and weight status related to better knowledge about healthy eating and awareness of food-related health risks?

29 Nov 2011

Obese boy’s mother loses custody

An eight year old boy in third grade from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, has been removed from his home after he grew to 218 pounds, weighing nearly as much as four times the usual. The average weight for an eight-year-old boy is 57 pounds - about one quarter of what the Ohio boy weighs.

28 Nov 2011

Physical exercise seems to encourage healthy diet

A healthy diet and the right amount of exercise are key players in treating and preventing obesity but we still know little about the relationship both factors have with each other. A new study now reveals that an increase in physical activity is linked to an improvement in diet quality.

23 Nov 2011

CUMC presents 2011 Naomi Berrie Award to UMDNJ researcher

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) presented the 2011 Naomi Berrie Award to Barry E. Levin, MD, a University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey researcher whose work focuses on the mechanisms by which specialized metabolic-sensing neurons regulate glucose and energy homeostasis. Junior investigator Kazuhisa Watanabe, at Columbia University Medical Center, received a Berrie Fellow award.

22 Nov 2011

Hemoglobin A1c fails to identify children with diabetes

In 2009, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommended that Hemoglobin A1c be exclusively used for the diagnosis of diabetes in children. The simple test measures longer-term blood sugar levels -- without requiring patients to fast overnight. However, a new U-M study has shown that these tests are not very accurate in children.

21 Nov 2011

ACF selects HCI, AAP to establish center of excellence for Head Start

Amid reports that an increasing number of Americans are living below the poverty level, UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute (HCI) is expanding its efforts to help low-income families.

18 Nov 2011

Novel program aims to improve nutrition, physical activity among young children and prevent obesity

A Kansas State University research group is jumping ahead to improve nutrition and physical activity among young children and prevent childhood obesity.

17 Nov 2011

More risk of health problems in lean children who become obese as adults

New health institute to combat chronic diseases across Maryland

Jay A. Perman, MD, President of the University of Maryland, and Joshua M. Sharfstein, MD, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), announced today the creation of the Institute for a Healthiest Maryland, a collaboration of support systems that will guide efforts to combat chronic diseases across Maryland.

16 Nov 2011

Mothers' behaviour during pregnancy can predict children at high risk of obesity

Researchers can predict which children are most likely to become obese by examining their mothers' behaviour around their birth, according to a recent University of Montreal study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

14 Nov 2011

UM to host Summit on Childhood Obesity at Hilton Baltimore

Science and medical reporters are invited to sample a wide diversity of new research and policy initiatives at a Summit on Childhood Obesity on Tues., Nov. 15 and Wed., Nov. 16 at the Hilton Baltimore.

13 Nov 2011

Johns Hopkins to establish new global center for childhood obesity

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been awarded a $16 million U54 cooperative agreement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a global center of excellence to address the childhood obesity epidemic.

11 Nov 2011

Patchwork of progress in California's battle against childhood obesity

A new study released today offers hope that California may finally be getting a handle on its 30-year battle with childhood obesity, but it also showcases a patchwork of progress that leaves the majority of the state's counties still registering increases in obesity rates among school-age children.

10 Nov 2011

NEJM publishes 'The 2010 Dietary Guidelines -- The Best Recipe for Health?'

USDA's interest protects that of Industry -- not the American public, conclude leading researchers Water C. Willett, MD, PhD, and David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD in their article, "The 2010 Dietary Guidelines -- The Best Recipe for Health?" published in the prestigious peer-reviewed The New England Journal of Medicine.

4 Nov 2011

New link between obesity, SDB and cognition among elementary school children

Researchers at the University of Chicago have found important new relationships between obesity, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and cognitive processing among elementary school children.

4 Nov 2011