Childhood Obesity - Do you have an overweight child? We offer tips to help your child lose weight and get fit!

People who feel stressed at work and then come home and "veg out" in front of TV are more likely to be overweight and obese, according to a new study from the University of Rochester Medical Center:

• Dr. Diana Fernandez and her colleagues studied almost 3,000 employees in a large factory in New York, and found that the ones that were working in the most high job strain conditions were heavier than those who worked in more passive areas.
  
• About one third of the people in the study were overweight and another 35 percent were obese, which mirrors the American population in general.
  
• If a person went home and watched more than two hours of television, they were more likely to be obese. Watching four or more hours of TV a day increased the risk of obesity by 150 percent.
  
• Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables did not protect against being overweight, although those who managed to exercise were better able to cope with stress and maintain their weight.

"We are not sure why television is so closely associated with being overweight," Dr. Fernandez said. "Other studies have shown that adults tend to eat more fatty foods while watching television."

Previous studies have identified watching too much television as a potential risk factor for childhood obesity.

This study appeared in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Labels: parenting, causes of childhood obesity, television

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The new health care reform bill requires restaurants to post information about the number of calories on foods on their menus, and to state that "the average person consumes 2,000 calories a day."

Research has shown that if this statement is on the menu along with calorie counts, people tend to eat less.

The new law will apply only to restaurants that have more than 20 locations.

Labels: legislation, calories

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Laboratory animals gain more weight when they eat foods sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup rather than table sugar, even when the calories are the same, according to a new study from Princeton University.

Scientists have suspected that high-fructose corn syrup, now a common ingredient in sodas and many other processed foods, may be contributing to the obesity epidemic, but this is the first study to demonstrate cause-and-effect in mammals.

• Professor Bart Hoebel and his colleagues gave laboratory rats drinks sweetened with either corn syrup or table sugar (sucrose).
• The researchers found that that corn syrup group gained more weight, especially belly fat.
  
• In a second experiment, rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight and developed metabolic syndrome, although those on a normal diet did not.

"These rats aren't just getting fat -- they are demonstrating characteristics of obesity, including substantial increases in abdominal fat and circulating triglycerides," said Miriam Bocarsly, an assistant on the project. "In humans, these same characteristics are known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer, and diabetes."

This study appeared in the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior.

Labels: diet, causes of childhood obesity, high fructose corn syrup

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In a sweeping mid-March decision, the administration for a British elementary school banned sweets from nearly every type of student event, including fund raisers and birthday celebrations. Parents are not happy about the change, with one even calling the new rule "draconian."

Mum Angela Craig said: "As a parent, I am really cross at being dictated to like this. Up until this point, I think the school had handled the situation beautifully." & George Strang, whose grandchildren attend [the school] said: "I have written to the school asking if this is an early April Fool. If not, it is political correctness gone mad." [Source: Mearns (UK) Leader]

Head teacher Gail Macfarlane said the decision to ban sweets was based on the schools interpretation of guidelines laid out in the latest edition of Healthy Eating in Schools. The decision was also influenced by a small minority of parents who wanted junk food eliminated from the school.

Many schools in both the UK and the United States have banned junk foods in an effort to improve student health and reduce rates of childhood obesity.

Labels: UK, schools, junk food

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Nutritionist Joann Bruso has photos of a McDonald's Happy Meal posted on her blog. A strange choice for a nutritionist? Not really. For the last 12 months, Bruso has had the same Happy Meal sitting on a counter in her Colorado home, waiting for it to decompose. Shes still waiting.

On March 3, Bruso posted a "Happy Birthday" message to the Happy Meal -- and a warning to parents who have made fast food a regular part of their family's diet:

The next time youre tempted to purchase a Happy Meal for your child, think about these photos. Food is SUPPOSED to decompose, go bad and smell foul&eventually. ...

Food is broken down into it's essential nutrients in our bodies and turned into fuel. Our children grow strong bodies, when they eat real food. Flies ignore a Happy Meal and microbes don't decompose it, then your child's body can't properly metabolize it either. Now you know why its called "junk food."

I think ants, mice and flies are smarter than people, because they weren't fooled. They never touched the Happy Meal. Children shouldnt either.

Labels: diet, health, fast food

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Another study has linked school meals with obesity among U.S. youth. According to researchers with the University of Michigan, middle school students who buy their lunch at school are more likely to be obese and to have higher levels of bad cholesterol.

• Dr. E. Elizabeth Jackson and her colleagues studied 1,300 sixth graders, asking them to report what they had eaten in one day.
  
• Among those who bought lunch at their school's cafeteria, 39 percent were obese -- compared to 24 percent of the children who bought their lunches from home.
  
• The children who bought lunch at school were more likely to consume sugared drinks and to eat fewer vegetables and fruits.

"Although this study does not address information on the nutrient content of school lunches," said Dr. Jackson, "it suggests there is a real opportunity to promote healthy behaviors and eating habits within the school environment."

The study was presented at the American College of Cardiology 59th Annual Scientific Sessions.

Labels: cafeterias, middle school

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According to a new report in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, obese patients with colon cancer are at great risk for death or recurrent disease compared to patients who are within the normal weight range. The report, from researchers at the Mayo Clinic, was the topic of a March 11 ScienceDaily article.

For the study, researchers evaluated 4,381 patients with stage II or stage III colon cancer who had received adjuvant chemotherapy in clinical trials. Twenty percent of the patients were obese.

"Obesity has long been established as a risk factor for cancer, but our study in colon cancer patients shows that obesity predicts a poorer prognosis after the cancer is surgically removed," said researcher Frank A. Sinicrope, M.D., a professor of medicine and oncology at the Mayo Clinic.

The study also found that the link between obesity and a poor prognosis was more pronounced in men than in women.

"We do not know if this is due to biology or the way we measure obesity," Sinicrope said. "Body mass index is a limited measure and there is evidence that abdominal fat may be a better predictor of colon cancer risk and perhaps prognosis in men than in women. There is also the potential influence of menopausal status and hormone replacement therapy in women."

Labels: health problems, cancer

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The United States Department of Agriculture is offering $40,000 in prizes to developers who can create video games to help children lose weight, or design electronic applications that will assist parents in their efforts to make better food choices for themselves and their families.

The contest is part of First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign against childhood obesity.

"Maybe you've seen those dance video games or exercise games that families are playing together at home," Mrs. Obama said in a March 10 Associated Press article. "Those are the kinds of games we are talking about."

Regarding the types of tools for parents that contest organizers are looking for, Mrs. Obama explained, "say you're at the grocery store and you are trying to figure out whether one food is healthier than the other, then you can pull up that answer on your iPhone."

Entries are due June 30, 2010.

Labels: government, prevention, awareness

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Another study has addressed the health risks of children born to obese mothers.

According to a new article published in the journal Nursing for Women's Health (and reported by ScienceDaily), obesity in pregnant women is associated with pregnancy complications, birth defects, and a greater risk of childhood and adult obesity rates for the infants born to these mothers.

• Merrie Rebecca Walters, RN and Julie Smith Taylor, PhD, RNC, WHNP-BC, the article's authors, reviewed data to determine the potential consequences of maternal obesity.
  
• The researchers found that obese women are more likely to have an infant with a neural tube defect, a heart defect, or multiple problems, than women who are within the normal weight range.
  
• In addition, obese women are more likely that normal-weight women to experience pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, labor induction, cesarean delivery, and postpartum hemorrhage.

The researchers also discovered that mothers' obesity may hold long-term implications for infants.

• Obesity among pregnant women is linked to childhood obesity in infants.
  
• A mother's obesity during pregnancy more than doubles the risk that the child will be obese at two to four years of age.
  
• These children are also at greater risk for obesity in adolescence and adulthood.
  

"Assisting women of childbearing age to achieve and maintain a healthful weight prior to conception will potentially minimize health risks to both mothers and infants," the authors wrote. "Health care providers must recognize the association between maternal obesity and childhood obesity and work to break the cycle of obesity before it becomes the leading cause of mortality in the United States."

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, mothers, pregnancy

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An article in the March 2010 edition of Health Affairs Journal identified another culprit in the childhood obesity epidemic: U.S. food policy. The article states that "cheap food policy" has led to the creation of calorie-rich, nutrient-poor food.

Chris Fleming's March 2 post on the Health Affairs blog reported on ways that experts are advising the government to play a more positive role in preventing childhood obesity:

Kelly D. Brownell, of Yale University, and coauthors call on policymakers at all levels of government to help Americans make healthier choices by regulating food ingredients, labeling, and marketing; and by taxing unhealthy foods and beverages.

Thomas R. Frieden, the new director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says reversing the epidemic will require multiple policy changes, including taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages, new incentives to promote healthy crop production, a ban on advertising that fosters bad eating habits, and sustained efforts to increase physical activity among children.

"If we do not act now, the epidemic of childhood obesity will become increasingly difficult to address," says Frieden. "From the federal to the state and local level, in the public and the private sector, from Fortune 500 companies to families around their kitchen tables, there are simple things each of us can do to encourage physical activity, improve nutrition and help our kids live healthier lives. It will take us all working together to meet this challenge."

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, government

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A new study has associated sleep problems with unhealthy weight gain.

People who sleep either too much or too little are in danger of gaining abdominal fat, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

• Dr. Kristin Hairston and her colleagues studied 332 African-American and 775 Hispanic-American adults over the age of 18 years old. The researchers asked about their subjects' sleep, diet, exercise, and other lifestyle habits, and then followed up with them five years later.

• Study participants who slept five hours or less a night had a greater accumulation of abdominal fat, and the same was true for those who slept five hours or less.
  

• People who got less than average sleep had a 32 percent gain in visceral fat and those who slept eight or more hours a night gained 22 percent.

• Study subjects who slept six or seven hours a night, which is the average, averaged a 13 percent gain.
  

Dr. Hairston was unsure why sleep duration might affect fat gain, but she said that among the group that sleeps too few hours, it may be related to becoming overtired and thus being unable to exercise. Among that group that sleeps more than eight hours a night, she theorized that they may tend to gain fat because they are too inactive.

Dr. Hairston also said that she believes that sleep is a factor that changes the levels of appetite-regulating hormones.

The study appeared in the journal Sleep.

Labels: weight_gain, sleep

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American children are consuming 27 percent of their daily calories from snacks, according to a studies from the University of North Carolina and the Oregon Health and Science University.

The results of these studies are disturbing, because they show a trend of "constant eating" instead of eating during regularly scheduled meals or because of hunger -- a habit that has been associated with the nation's childhood obesity epidemic.

Professors Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina studied data on 31,337 children ages 2 to 18 taken from different federal studies on food and eating.

"Childhood snacking trends are moving towards three snacks per day," Piernas and Popkin wrote in their report. "More than 27 percent of children's daily calories are coming from snacks. The biggest increases have been in salty snacks and candy. Desserts and sweetened beverages remain major sources of calories from snacks."

Extra snacking among children added 117 extra calories per day between 1977 and 2006, which adds up to 12 extra pounds a year.

Christina Bethell of the Oregon Health and Science University analyzed data from the 2000 National Survey of Children's Health and found that the rate of obesity for children ages 10 to 17 years old increased from 14.8 percent in 2003 to 16.4 percent in 2007. The prevalence of overweight children remained at 15 percent.

The studies appeared in Health Affairs Journal.

Labels: causes of childhood obesity

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Teenagers who follow a diet that is high in sugar are more likely to experience insulin resistance in adulthood, according to a new study on Queens University Belfast.

Insulin resistance is a condition in which the human body does not use insulin properly. Insulin helps the body convert glucose, a kind of sugar, into energy. Insulin resistance is related to diabetes.

• Researchers at Queens University studied the diets of 489 people ages 12 to 15.
• The researchers followed up with their subjects 10 years later, when the subjects were ages 20 to 25.
• For every 1 percent increase in sugar consumed as a teenager, the researchers found a 2 percent increase in insulin resistance as an adult.

This study was presented in the Diabetes United Kingdom Annual Professional Conference.

Labels: diabetes

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A study out of Emory University has found a surprising potential link between obesity and bacteria. Building off previous studies which showed that intestinal microbes were different in overweight people, Emory researchers studied immune systems in mice to try and learn more.

"Researchers noticed that mice with an altered immune system were fatter than regular mice, and had a collection of disorders  high blood pressure, and cholesterol and insulin problems  called metabolic syndrome, often a precursor of heart disease and diabetes." [The Associated Press]

Mice with altered immunity had different bacteria in their intestines, when compared to normal rodents, and it appeared to cause increases in appetite, along with the "low-grade inflammation" that's associated with many obesity-related illnesses.

Labels: bacteria

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According to a Feb. 23 Associated Press report, the American Academy of Pediatrics is supporting U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama's obesity prevention campaign by providing prescription slips to help pediatricians recommend healthy living tips:

The slips say, "Rx for Healthy Active Living.'' They list four daily tasks: eating at least five fruits and vegetables; limiting screen time to two hours or less; getting at least one hour of physical activity; and drinking fewer sugary drinks.

They also have a space for parents or kids to fill in which task they want to work on first.

The academy has downloadable versions of these prescription slips for pediatricians on its Web site.

Labels: prevention, awareness

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Obese children as young as three years old have health markers linked to developing heart disease as adults, according to a new article in the journal Pediatrics.

• Researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine looked for three markers that measure inflammation in more than 16,000 children ages 1 to 17 years old.
  
• About 60 percent of the obese teenagers in the study showed elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) compared to 18% of teenagers with normal weight.
  
• The very obese children were even more likely to show elevated levels.
  

Very little is known about CRP levels in children, but Dr. Ashley Skinner, author of the study, believes that elevated levels are probably a predictor of heart disease in adulthood.

"It's really important to be concerned about childhood obesity and to even be concerned when they are quite young," she said." We can't wait until they are adolescents or adults."

Labels: toddlers, heart_disease, infant

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