Childhood Obesity News and Research

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School gardens may get children to eat more vegetables

Getting children to eat their vegetables can seem like an insurmountable task, but nutrition researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found one way: school gardens and lessons on using what's grown in them.

4 Feb 2021

Researchers identify seven criteria to tackle obesity problem in the UK

Successive governments' approach to obesity policies has destined them to fail, say researchers.Government obesity policies in England over the past three decades have largely failed because of problems with implementation, lack of learning from past successes or failures, and a reliance on trying to persuade individuals to change their behavior rather than tackling unhealthy environments.

19 Jan 2021

Study offers new insight into the global obesity epidemic

Variation in consumption of market-acquired foods outside of the traditional diet -- but not in total calories burned daily -- is reliably related to indigenous Amazonian children's body fat, according to a Baylor University study that offers insight into the global obesity epidemic.

17 Jan 2021

Scientists publish guidelines for conversing with children about overweight, obesity

Parents, caregivers and health care professionals are increasingly concerned about childhood obesity. Compounding their concern are fears of inadvertently provoking disordered eating, such as unhelpful dieting, when discussing a child's weight status (i.e. normal weight, overweight or obese).

18 Dec 2020

Lipid metabolite in human breast milk can benefit the offspring in early postnatal period

A lipid metabolite called 12,13-diHOME is in human breast milk and appears to be associated with beneficial infant weight gain and body composition in the early postnatal period.

9 Dec 2020

‘Artificial Pancreas Dashboard' can help standardize hybrid closed-loop reporting

A standardized "Artificial Pancreas (AP) Dashboard" should provide easy to use single-page hybrid closed-loop system (HCL) reporting for insulin requiring patients with diabetes.

2 Dec 2020

Modifiable risk factors in the first 1000 days of life predict higher adiposity and cardiometabolic risk

Early life risk factors in the first 1000 days cumulatively predict higher obesity and cardiometabolic risk in early adolescence, according to new research led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.

16 Nov 2020

Home-visiting intervention puts Native American infants on a healthier growth trajectory

Lessons on healthy feeding practices delivered to young mothers through a brief home-visiting intervention put Native American infants on a healthier growth trajectory, lowering their risks for obesity, according to a study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

9 Nov 2020

Channel 7 grants fund new projects focusing on care for homeless children

Nurse practitioners working with social service agencies is one way to help the estimated 22% of Australian children living in temporary or precarious conditions, with families hit hard by unemployment and other problems created by the pandemic.

2 Nov 2020

Researchers analyze racial disparities in access to bariatric surgery

The use of bariatric surgery to treat severe obesity in adolescents, and the racial disparities in access to that treatment, were analyzed in a retrospective study published in Annals of Surgery by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

29 Oct 2020

Early life exposure to air pollution may increase children's body mass index

Exposure to higher air pollution levels and greater population density during the early months of life may be associated with an increase in children's body mass index (BMI).

27 Oct 2020

OMA announces availability of updated Pediatric Obesity Algorithm

The Obesity Medicine Association today announced the immediate availability of the 2020-2022 Pediatric Obesity Algorithm, which includes new information for clinicians such as specific considerations for special populations, nutritional recommendations for patients with obesity and adiposity-related diseases, and advanced therapies for pediatric obesity.

19 Oct 2020

Microstructural brain differences linked to waist circumference and BMI in children

Differences in the microstructure of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), a region in the brain that plays an important role in processing food and other reward stimuli, predict increases in indicators of obesity in children, according to a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and nine other institutes, all part of the National Institutes of Health.

13 Oct 2020

Lack of considerations in cumulative effect of food chemicals could have contributed to increased chronic diseases

Today, a group of health, environmental, and consumer organizations challenged the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) practice of not accounting for the cumulative health effect of chemicals in the diet when allowing new chemicals in food.

24 Sep 2020

More than half of American children lack cardiorespiratory fitness

A new study strengthens the claim that children today are not as healthy as those decades ago. In fact, the study by researchers on behalf of the American Heart Association (AHA) has found that nearly 60 percent of American children do not have healthy cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), a key measure of physical fitness and overall health.

20 Jul 2020

School's food offerings and physical activity environment associated with lower BMI for students

Students at elementary and secondary schools that offer healthier food offerings and more opportunities for physical activities have a healthier body mass index, according to Rutgers researchers.

8 Jul 2020

New study comprehensively profiles environmental factors linked to childhood obesity

Childhood obesity is a health threat that is becoming more and more common worldwide. It increases risk later on for a variety of life-threatening challenges, including type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and even mental health problems.

25 Jun 2020

Obesity and COVID-19: Cause or effect?

A new University College London study published on the preprint server medRxiv in June 2020 dissects the contribution and incidence of obesity in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and describes measures to mitigate the impact of lockdown measures.

25 Jun 2020

Air pollution, smoking and built environment may play a role in childhood obesity

How do environmental exposures during pregnancy and childhood influence the risk of obesity in children? The Barcelona Institute for Global Health, a center supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, and the University of Southern California led the first major study to investigate the associations between many pollutants and environmental factors --77 prenatal and 96 childhood exposures-- and the risk of childhood obesity.

24 Jun 2020

COVID-19 lockdowns negatively impact lifestyle behaviors in children with obesity

Lockdowns implemented across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic have negatively impacted diet, sleep and physical activity among children with obesity, according to University at Buffalo research.

3 Jun 2020