Many parents point at school lunch and snack programs as primary culprits in rising rates of childhood obesity. But new research has found that those people may be pointing in the wrong direction.

"Data from kindergarteners and first graders found that body mass index increased two to three times as fast in summer as during the regular school year. Minority children were especially vulnerable, as were children already overweight."

Though this data doesn't absolve schools of all responsibility, it does indicate that nutritional standards often take a summer break. The research also emphasizes that healthy eating is important all year long. Source: The Providence Journal

Labels: healthy_eating, summers, vacations

BodyWorks, was launched by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health in 2006. The program trains instructors on health and fitness, with the goal that these instructors will the information back to their communities and start local programs.

"Girls 9 to 13 years old who are overweight or obese are referred to BodyWorks through their pediatrician, or by word of mouth. Parents and caregivers attend 10 weekly 90-minute sessions, and girls are expected to show up for at least three. The goal is to give parents and caregivers 'hands-on tools to make small behavior changes to prevent obesity and help maintain a healthier weight.'"

Though local communities have to pay for trainers and facilities, the training materials are provided free of charge through the DHSS. There are currently 1,700 BodyWorks instructors in 43 states, and about 700 parents and caregivers have also completed the program. Source: Daily Times

Labels: community, fitness, health

France has recently begun doing what the United States, it seems, can only talk and dream about: curb childhood obesity. The introduction of healthy school lunch programs has taught French children how to eat well, and isn't costing school districts a fortune.

"All around the school kitchen, food is cooking in various pots and pans.... It is hard to believe this is a public school cafeteria and not a three-star restaurant. Perhaps what is most impressive about [Chef Dominique] Valadier's meals is that they cost the students only $3 a day, less than the typical fast food fare served at many French high schools."

Valadier keeps food costs down by buying local and using everything; he even boils the heads, flesh and bones from salmon to make bullion. Students at the school say they've nearly stopped eating at fast food restaurants and have learned some important lessons about healthy cooking and eating. Source: NPR

Labels: economics, healthy_eating, schools

On July 5, bicyclists in central Minnesota set out in an attempt to break the Guinness record for the world's largest bike parade. The event is being organized by BLEND (Better Living: Exercise and Nutrition Daily).

"Bicyclists gathered Saturday afternoon at Whitney Park in St. Cloud for a 2-mile ride. Organizers say they will document the attempt and have it submitted to Guinness World Records.... and it's all part of the effort to combat childhood obesity."

The current bike parade record is 2,152, set earlier this year in Taiwan. Organizers of the July 5 event are hoping for more than 2,500 participants. Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Labels: community, exercise

David Jones, a retired North Carolina state employee, wants to raise awareness about childhood obesity. And he's doing it one step at a time - literally.

"Jones.... plans to walk the 73 miles from Snow Hill to Raleigh in October to take his message to state officials. 'I want to raise awareness that there needs to be more actions taken to defeat childhood obesity,' Jones said."

Three people are expected to join Jones in his walk. They will walk 15 miles a day for six days. Source: Kinston Free Press

Labels: awareness, childhood_health, prevention

Teaching children how to cook at an early age has many benefits, not the least of which is the ability of nutrition education to assist in the battle against obesity. The Kitchen Kapers studio in Moorestown, Pennsylvania has begun putting this theory into practice.

"Though nutrition can be stealthily baked into chocolate cake in the form of a beet puree, as Jessica Seinfeld has demonstrated with her Deceptively Delicious recipes, these instructors reason that children stand a better chance of developing healthier habits when they can recognize a beet, and, better yet, learn how to roast and peel it."

Cooking classes can also teach portion control, as well as introduce young eaters to new foods. As an added benefit, instructors believe that families that cook together are more likely to develop a habit of eating together - and, in addition to reinforcing positive nutrition concepts, shared meals have also been shown to promote emotional well-being. Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Labels: cooking, healthy_eating, nutrition

While it may be true that interactive games like those made for Nintendo's Wii console encourage players to get up and move, a study has determined that these games don't keep children active enough to keep them healthy. One example of research that was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine was the discovery that real tennis is 77 percent more physically demanding than the video version.

"The study authors calculated that in a typical week, a child who played Wii sports would use about 2% more energy than one playing sedentary computer games. They said the increase was 'trivial', and the activity was not intense enough to be counted in the recommended daily amount of physical activity."

Though Wii-like gaming may offer some benefit to a child's metabolic health, the research is inconclusive in this area. The bottom line, experts say, is that virtual tennis or boxing are no substitute for the real thing. Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Labels: exercise, sports, video_games

A study by researchers in British Columbia, Canada, has found that increased physical education classes don't improve body mass index (BMI) for schoolchildren.

"[Dr. Kevin] Harris said researchers looked at 13 trials of six months to three years in which pre- and post-BMI measurements were taken. In studies involving nearly 10,000 children, primarily in elementary schools, none demonstrated a reduction in BMI with those who were assigned to the most phys-ed time, compared to those who didn't have as much."

The information, which was presented at the Canadian Pediatric Society conference in Victoria, is expected to diminish hopes that more school-based phys-ed classes would have been a cure-all for childhood obesity. While increased physical activity in school does have tremendous health benefits for children, it appears weight loss may not be one of them. Source: The Vancouver Sun

Labels: body_mass_index, physical_education, schools

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has created a program designed to help connect local farmers with the area's school food service directors. connect and. This "Farm-to-School" effort to get more local fruits and vegetables into public schools is the result of an initiative by the 2007 Virginia General Assembly.

"The Farm-to-School program is about creating connections between growers, distributors and educational institutions,' said Todd P. Haymore, VDACS Commissioner. 'Through these connections, we also can reach children and their parents,' he added."

The program's web site helps food service directors learn what food is available and where it can be purchased. Both the program and the website are administered by VDACS' Division of Marketing. Source: Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Labels: farmers, healthy_eating, schools

Ray McNulty from Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida was feeling nostalgic. In his column, he reminisces about all the time he spent with his dad when he was a kid. His dad taught him to box, play sports, and enjoy being active and healthy, but few of today's kids are getting that same experience.

"...kids need more activity than the P.E. they get in school. That's the only exercise some kids get. That's got to change. And it's up to you fathers out there to change it - the way your kids eat and play and think."

Turn off the video games, McNulty encourages. Pick up a ball and teach your kids that sports can be fun, even when they're not played on a screen. Source: Treasure Coast Newspapers

Labels: activity, exercise, sports

People who carry pedometers or set walking goals for themselves end up walking as much as an extra mile every day, according to a study in the November 21, 2007, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Pedometers are small devices that count steps when you walk.

Researchers at Stanford Medical School examined the records of 2,767 people and found that pedometers and walking goals helped them get more exercise, lose weight, and slightly improve their blood pressure.

"The bottom line is that everything works for a month," said Dr. Robert Lustig, lead author. "Everything novel works. If you have the motivation, a pedometer helps. If you don't, it's useless."

Labels: exercise, walking

An eight-month study of dieting women found that eating a large breakfast with plenty of proteins and carbohydrates helped control hunger, reduce their cravings for carbs, and maintain weight losses.

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University put a group of 46 women on a very low-carb diet of less than 1100 calories per day. Another group of 48 women went on a diet of 1240 calories, with half their calories coming during breakfast.

Four months after going on their diets, the first group had lost 28 pounds and the breakfast group lost 23. However, four months after that, the low carb dieters had regained 18 pounds, while the breakfast group had lost another 16 pounds.

Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, who presented the study at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, said low-carb diets are not good ways to lose weight because "they exacerbate the craving for carbohydrates." Only 5 percent of such dieters are successful after two years, she said.

Labels: breakfast, diet, long_term_weight_loss

Scientists with the Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis have isolated five genetic factors that may increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, and one factor that appears to protect against it.

People with metabolic syndrome - who are usually overweight - present at least three of the following five conditions: abdominal fat, high levels of bad cholesterol, low levels of good cholesterol, high blood pressure, and elevated fasting blood glucose.

Metabolic syndrome is dangerous because those who have it are four times more likely to develop heart disease and seven times more likely to become diabetic than are individuals who do not have the disorder.

The St. Louis researchers examined DNA from 2000 people and found that the gene variations that predicted metabolic syndrome in prior animal studies carried over into human genetics.

This study, which was financed by the National Institute of Health, was published in the June edition of the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

Labels: genetics, metabolism

Fourteen morbidly obese teenagers who underwent laparoscopic gastric banding surgeries had lost an average of 20 pounds six months later, according to a study from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Though the Federal Drug Administration has approved such surgeries only for adults in the United States, this study was part of an FDA-approved inquiry into the safety and effectiveness of such surgeries in younger patients.

Dr. Ilene Fennoy, lead author of the study, said that she believes "banding surgery may offer the possibility of a new therapy for morbidly obese adolescents with medical complications" such as high levels of fat in their blood, high blood sugars, and poor liver function.

The surgeons who participated in the study put bands around the upper parts of the teenagers' stomachs to create small pouches that limit their food intake. A surgeon who has placed such a band in a patient can later adjust or remove it.

Stomach surgery for children and teens who are extremely overweight remains a controversial practice, in part because no one has documented the long-term effects of the procedure.

Labels: long_term_health_risks, long_term_weight_loss, obesity surgery

The Lawrence Township School Foundation was recently presented with a "Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future Champion Award" in recognition of its My Community Gets Healthy (MCGH) program. The award, which was presented by acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, recognizes programs that address childhood obesity by helping kids stay active.

"My Community Gets Healthy is a comprehensive, sustainable fitness and wellness program that has expanded into all Lawrence Township public schools. MCGH involves fitness instruction during and after school and also incorporates wellness instruction for families."

More than 700 students participated in MCGH's afterschool program, Up and Running. The students trained three days a week, with a goal of participating in a 5K or half-marathon run. Source: IndyStar

Labels: community, prevention

Researchers have found that obese teenagers are far more likely to die of heart disease and other illnesses than teens that are at a healthy weight. The study followed more than 200,000 Norwegians from adolescence through middle age.

"Study participants who were obese as teenagers... tended to remain obese into adulthood. Obesity later in life has long been implicated as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers...whereas the long-term effects of childhood obesity are uncertain."

The study found long-term health risks not only for heart disease, but also colon cancer and respiratory diseases. Source: National Institutes of Health

Labels: heart_disease, obesity_rates

Low-carb diets do not lead to bone loss, according to a new study from the University of Illinois. In fact, people on diets that emphasized meats and dairy products lost less bone mass than those on a diet based on the government's food pyramid, which emphasizes grains.

A research team from the University of Illinois and Penn State University randomly assigned 130 people to either a high- or low-carb diet, and then measured their bone density every four months for a year. The scientists believed the low-carb diet would cause loss of calcium through urination, but instead the high-carb group showed a decline in bone loss and the low-carb group remained stable.

This study appears in the Journal of Nutrition.

Labels: bone_density, carbs

Children at risk for Type I diabetes might benefit from a diet rich in omega-3 fats, according to a new study from the University of Colorado.

Dr. Jill Norris and her colleagues followed 1,770 children up to 3 years old for six years. The children had risk factors for diabetes such as having a parent or sibling with the disease. The children who consumed foods high in omega-3 fats such as tuna, mackerel, and salmon had less evidence of an antibody associated with the development of Type I diabetes.

Dr. Norris, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, believes that some children may benefit from omega-3 supplements.

Labels: diabetes, diet