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

The My Overweight Child blog will help you keep informed about the latest research, findings, and resources available to parents of overweight or obese kids. There are many knowledgeable people working on the increasingly dire problem of childhood obesity - and we want to give parents a place where they can check in regularly to see the latest studies and tips available to help you help your child lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

We invite you to add your comments - if you have feedback for the blog, would like some specific topics covered, or you just want to share your experience as a parent dealing with childhood obesity.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Overweight Kids at Increased Risk for Pancreatic Cancer, Heart Disease

Overweight and obese youth are at greater risk for two serious diseases -- pancreatic cancer and cardiovascular disease -- according to two new studies.

The first study compared the childhood weights of 841 pancreatic cancer patients to 754 healthy people:

Those who were overweight from ages 14 to 39 years old were 67 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.
People who were overweight between ages 20 to 49 years old increased their risk by 2.5 times.
This study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The second study was from The Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dr. Nelly Mauras and her colleagues found that obese children as young as seven years old were at higher risk for future cardiovascular disease and stroke.
They compared 115 obese children to 87 lean children, all of whom had normal fasting blood sugar levels, normal blood pressure, and normal cholesterol levels.
The obese children had elevated levels of certain proteins and other markers for cardiovascular disease

The old thinking was that cardiovascular disease is associated with a cluster of symptoms called metabolic syndrome. These symptoms include high blood pressure, high levels of bad cholesterol, low levels of good cholesterol, and high blood glucose.

Dr. Mauras and her team wanted to know if obesity could raise cardiovascular disease risk before metabolic old syndrome develops. "The results were striking because the children were entirely healthy otherwise," she said while presenting the study during the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society.

Labels: cancer, heart_disease, overweight children, research

Monday, September 29, 2008

Teen Girls Who Eat Red Meat at Increased Risk for Breast Cancer

A Harvard Medical School study linked the consumption of above-average amounts of red meat during adolescence with an increased likelihood of developing breast cancer as an adult.

Dr. Linda Frazier and her colleagues examined reports of food consumption from 38,268 pre-menopausal women who reported how often they had eaten red meat - including beef, pork, lamb, and processed meats such as hot dogs or bacon - when they were adolescents.

Women who reported eating more than two and a half servings per day (262 grams or more) had a 34 percent greater chance of developing breast cancer than did those who ate less than one serving. The kind of red meat did not matter. The average consumption was 68 grams per day.

"This study adds considerable evidence to the established adverse effect of red meat," Dr. Frazier said.

The work appears in the journal Cancer Epidemiology.

Labels: cancer, girls, healthy_eating

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Mediterranean Diet Cuts Cancer Risks

An eight-year study of 26,000 Greek citizens found that eating a "Mediterranean" diet reduces cancer risks by 22 percent. This diet such includes the following habits: consuming less red meat and dairy products, using olive oil instead of butter, and eating more fruits and vegetables. The researchers found that individuals who followed this plan had lowered rates for several types of cancer, including cervix, bowel, stomach, liver, and brain.

"Of the thousands of people we studied, those who followed a Mediterranean diet were overall less likely to develop cancer," said Harvard University professor Dimitrios Trichopoulos.

Labels: cancer, diet, healthy_eating