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.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Canada Considers Anti-Junk Food Campaign

Canadians are engaging in a national debate about whether their obesity epidemic warrants new laws and taxes similar to the ones used against smoking.

According to a Jan. 14 article by Meagan Fitzpatrick of Canwest News Service, the proposed laws would ban the sale of unhealthy foods or tax them, and put government subsidies on fruit and vegetables:

Governments over the years, have passed various pieces of legislation designed to reduce smoking, including increased taxation and packaging requirements, and some health experts have been pushing for similar initiatives to combat obesity.

Proposals include banning the advertising of unhealthy foods, increasing taxes on food that isn't nutritious, subsidizing fruits and vegetables to make them more affordable for Canadians and forcing the food industry to change its labelling, packaging and ingredients.

"This is a legitimate public debate about how far you go with voluntary versus legal restrictions," said [Dr. David] Butler-Jones. "The timing for that I think, really depends on when a community is educated enough, and ready enough and understands the implications."

In 2009, a Canadian group posed a legal challenge to companies that were marketing junk food to children.

Labels: awareness, canada, junk food, prevention

Friday, July 17, 2009

Fast Foods in NYC Schools Undermines Anti-Obesity Effort

An audit of New York City schools has revealed that the schools routinely make junk food available to students -- a move that New York City Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says is undermining efforts to encourage students to follow a health diet plan:

Auditors found that school stores and vending machines at 20 of 30 city schools visited sold candy, soda, and other unhealthy snacks to students during lunch periods in direct violation of the Chancellor’s policies and in direct competition with the healthy lunches offered by the Department of Education. (Source: Empire State News)

The auditors also found that 14 out of 15 audited schools made unhealthy food available throughout the day, not just during lunch.

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, junk food, schools

Friday, January 09, 2009

One in 3 Kids Does Not Like Sweets

A major study of 8,900 Danish schoolchildren produced interesting results regarding how children taste food.

Girls have a better sense of taste than boys do, although they have the same number of taste buds. Boys needed 10% more sourness and 20% more sweetness than girls did in order to recognize certain flavors. Perhaps not surprisingly, boys prefer extreme flavors. They gave highest approval to the sweetest sodas and the sourest foods.

One in three children does not like sweet foods or drinks. However, 48% of the children gave their highest marks to sweets.

The ability to taste improves gradually as a child gets older. By age 13 or 14, most children prefer sweets less often.

The Danish Science Communication and the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen cooperated to perform this study.

Labels: junk food, sweets, tastes

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Junk Food Ads Influence Eating Habits

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a report which shows that children and teenagers are subjected to dozen of hours of food commercials every year; nearly 41 hours for teens between the ages of 13 and 17.

"That might not be a problem if the ads promoted healthy fare. But the report, the largest over conducted on food marketing to children and teens, highlights how TV commercials mostly tout junk food."

One-third of the commercials promoted candy and snacks, 28 percent were for cereals, and 10 percent were for fast food. Though many countries regulate food advertising, the United States isn't one of the. Which means the regulating is up to the parents. Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Obesity Program at Children's Hospital in Boston, recommends that parents limit their children's television watching to as little as a half-hour a day. Read more at DallasNews.com.

Labels: junk food, marketing, media influences