Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois has announced a new campaign to address the state's issue of childhood obesity.

"BCBSIL will provide funding to bring together, strengthen, and advance existing programs and organizations that educate children and families about and promote proper nutrition, exercise and healthy lifestyles."

An estimated 21 percent of Illinois children are overweight or obese and 18 percent are at risk of being overweight. Read more at www.prnewswire.com.

Labels: education, insurance, nutrition

Brenner Children's Hospital in North Carolina is opening the region's first program focused specifically on obese children. The program is called FIT (Families in Training) and will be led by Joseph Skelton, M.D., who comes from the Medical College of Wisconsin.

"The Brenner FIT program will provide comprehensive, holistic, family-centered medical treatment for morbidly obese patients in the region,' Skelton said. 'Our program is comprised of medical care, research, community education and outreach. Early next year, we hope to include a surgical component to Brenner FIT as well.'"

Skelton and his team are also part of the Collaborative to Strengthen Families and Neighborhoods, which was developed as a "learning lab" for developing possible solutions to child health issues.

Labels: education, hospitals, pediatricians

Susan Rubin and Amy Kalafa, two moms who are frustrated by the lack of nutritional value in most school food, have started a food fight. But rather than throw mashed potatoes, they're throwing punches - in the form of a documentary called "Two Angry Moms".

"[Kalafa] was inspired by a state agricultural official who once said that it would take 2 million angry moms to change school food in the U.S. The women are fighting to remove foods such as chicken nuggets, French fries, cookies, candy, chips, doughnuts, snack cakes and sugary drinks from school vending machines and cafeterias."

Some school officials are pushing back against the documentary, citing cafeteria and vending machine numerous recent changes in thousands of school districts across the country. Though Kalafa acknowledges that there have been many positive changes, she says schools still have a long way to go.

Read more at LansingStateJournal.com.

Labels: education, parents, schools

The U.S. will spend over $1 billion on nutrition education for school children. Despite that, obesity problems are steadily increasing.

"...an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success in changing the way children eat – or any promise as weapons against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity."

National obesity rates among children ages 6- to 11-years old have increased to nearly five times what they were in the 1970s, and tripled among teenagers. Most doctors agree that, though childhood obesity programs often target schools, parents have the biggest influence over what their kids eat.

Read more at Boston.com.

Labels: education, nutrition, schools

The MEND program is designed to teach kids and their parents how to battle the eating and exercise habits that cause childhood obesity. MEND stands for Mind, Exercise, Nutrition...Do it!

"During the first hour [of the program] they look at healthy eating and during the second hour the children take part in physical activities while their parents continue with classroom based tasks."

This past weekend, eight children graduated from the program in Tower Hamlets.

Read more at 24dash.com.

Labels: education, exercise, healthy_eating

A seminar this past Tuesday focused on teaching Head Start administrators about a new project being used to combat childhood obesity. The program is called "I am Learning, I am Moving" and uses songs to get children up and moving.

"[Dr. Linda] Carson said a big reason childhood obesity has reached a crisis mode in our country is physical inactivity. 'Our children need to be encouraged to be physically active', Carson said."

The program also stresses healthy choices for meals and snacks. Read more at CBS46.com.

Schools can help kids get an education in fitness, nutrition, and living a health lifestyle. Read Getting an Education in Fitness to see what schools can do to help combat childhood obesity.

Labels: education, fitness, schools

Shape Up Sommerville is an intervention program which was designed by researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The program aggressively redesigned school curriculum and after-school activities in an attempt to curb weight gain among school children.

"A key element of the intervention was the work done in collaboration with Sommerville schools. [Christina] Economos and her team planned and implemented a range of initiatives designed to provide and promote healthy eating options and physical activity."

Included in the initiatives were a redesigned school food program that included healthier meals and snacks, after-school curriculum that included creative cooking and cooperative games, and in-class curriculum that included weekly nutrition and physical activity lessons. Read more at News-Medical.net.

Labels: community, education, events

British health officials are calling for routine weighing of all elementary school children. But some British researchers are claiming that there's no evidence that the routine weighing of schoolchildren actually helps fight obesity.

"Indeed, even experts aren't sure which strategies are widely effective for childhood obesity - and without proven treatments, mass screening makes little sense, according to the report, which is published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood."

Some researchers have suggested alternatives, such as school-based programs that focus on healthy living. Read more on Today.Reuters.com.

Labels: education, elementary_school_students, experts

It's easy to blame schools for the childhood obesity epidemic. After all, until recently, unhealthy snacks and beverages were available to children both during the school day and after school. But according to new research from Ohio State University, school provides a structured environment similar to the workweek for adults, in which students have less access to food, healthier choices of food, and more activity than they do at home.

The study used data from a survey of over 5,000 students throughout the United States and found that BMI measurements of overweight children rose more than three times faster during summer vacation than during the school year. Interestingly, those with racial and ethnic predisposition for obesity had higher BMIs than those without racial and ethnic predisposition only during the summer - not during the school year.

Study authors conclude that while schools can do a better job in teaching children about healthy food and activity choices, the major part of the childhood obesity problem lies outside of school.

Labels: body_mass_index, education, schools