Childhood Obesity News and Research

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Most powerful predictor for how much children eat is how much food is put on their plate

Contrary to what many people believe, preschool children do not adjust how much they eat in response to how much they ate at their last meal or in the past 24 hours or how calorie-rich their meal is. By far, the most powerful predictor for how much children eat is how much food is put on their plate, concludes a new study by Cornell University researchers.

15 Jun 2005

Only 12 percent of pediatricians surveyed felt effective in treating overweight children

If North Carolina reflects what is happening nationally, most pediatricians across the country lack confidence in their ability to treat obesity, which is increasingly recognized as robbing children of physical vigor now and good health in later life, a new study shows.

13 Jun 2005

TV confuses kids on healthy eating

Despite - or perhaps because of - the barrage of information about food that they consume while watching television, kids are getting the wrong message about healthy eating.

8 Jun 2005

Soy appears to lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, aid weight loss

A quick trip through the health-food section of any grocery will reveal several labels touting soy content, but most Americans do not know much about soy beyond a vague idea that it is a healthy food.

8 Jun 2005

Obese children benefit from resistance training

A supervised, progressive resistance training program significantly increased strength and resulted in favorable body composition changes in overweight and obese children.

3 Jun 2005

Two-year study shows lifestyle-related chronic illness begins early

As the prevalence of overweight and obesity increases among American children, signs of risk for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases - previously thought of as adult disorders - are on the rise among youth.

3 Jun 2005

Environmental solutions to childhood obesity

National and community leaders join researchers today to sort out how a child's environment increases the risk for obesity and to identify ways the environment can be changed to address this health epidemic.

2 Jun 2005

Sleeping time and obesity in children

Three-year-old children who spend more than eight hours watching television each week are at an increased risk of obesity as they grow up.

23 May 2005

Prince Charles calls for a more holistic approach towards medicine

The Prince of Wales, who has long been a strong supporter of homeopathic medicine, has called for a more holistic approach towards medicine and the nation's health.

18 May 2005

The way obese women feed and interact with their children early in infancy might lay the foundations for obesity later in childhood

A small pilot study published this month in the open access Nutrition Journal found that obese women fed their children more energy- rich food, and spent less time feeding and interacting with them than normal weight women.

18 May 2005

Emerging evidence supports early detection, monitoring, and in some cases treatment for children suffering from high blood pressure

One year after recommending that children should be checked for high blood pressure starting at age 3, medical experts reviewed additional supporting evidence for the pediatric blood pressure guidelines at the American Society of Hypertension's Twentieth Annual Meeting (ASH 2005).

16 May 2005

Role of soft drinks in childhood obesity

Obesity is one of the biggest threats to child health. Genetics, decreases in physical activity, increases in television watching, and consumption of fast food are factors that have led to an increase of childhood obesity in the United States. Excessive consumption of sugar sweetened drinks may also be a key factor.

11 May 2005

Bill Clinton battles obesity

Bill Clinton has joined the obesity debate by launching a campaign to reduce obesity among American children, and warns that today's youth could be the first U.S. generation to die younger than their parents.

3 May 2005

California teens do not get regular physical activity

Teenage girls, teens from low-income families, teens with no access to safe parks or open spaces, teens whose schools do not require physical education, and Latino, Asian, and African American teens are particularly at risk according to researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

4 Apr 2005

Soy is well accepted in school lunches

Childhood obesity is a national health concern and affects as many as 20 percent of school children. As part of the battle against obesity, the Illinois Center for Soy Foods at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has recently completed a pilot program, called ISOY, to demonstrate the nutritional benefits of including soy in the state's school lunch programs.

3 Apr 2005

Rapid rise in obesity may reverse life expectancy trend

It's been assumed that U.S. life expectancy would rise indefinitely, but a new data analysis, published as a special report in the March 17 New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that this trend is about to reverse itself -- due to the rapid rise in obesity, especially among children.

21 Mar 2005

Pediatric obesity is now recognized as a major medical and health problem all over the world

A consensus statement on childhood obesity was published today in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, one of the four journals of The Endocrine Society.

8 Mar 2005

Childhood obesity is a serious health problem in Australia

Professor Michael Booth, co-director of the University of Sydney's Centre for Overweight and Obesity, said teenagers were already showing signs of serious illness caused by their weight.

24 Feb 2005

By age six, children of overweight mothers are fifteen times more likely to be obese

By age six, children of overweight mothers are fifteen times more likely to be obese than children of lean mothers. The research, at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, showed the strength of genetic influences, and suggests that efforts to prevent obesity should focus on such children at risk, preferably by four years of age.

25 Jan 2005

Over-eating at an early age may stay well into adulthood

Melbourne researchers have found that over-eating at a very young age can have a long-lasting effect on the body and in particular seems to enhance the production of hormones made in fat and involved in metabolism.

24 Jan 2005