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TweetFebruary 25, 2013 Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, MA – A new poll released today shows a large gap between parents’ perceptions of their children’s weight and expert definitions. According to their parents, 15% of children are a little or very overweight, while national data suggest more than twice as many, or 32% of all children, are overweight or obese. The poll was conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).
In addition, only 20% of children in households that participated in this poll had a parent …

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October 15, 2012, New York Times, Pam Belluck
For years, virtually every new mother has been sent home from the hospital with a gift bag full of free product samples, including infant formula.
Now health authorities and breast-feeding advocates are leading a nationwide effort to ban formula samples, which often come in stylish bags with formula company logos. Health experts say they can sway women away from breast-feeding.
As of 2011, nearly half of about 2,600 hospitals in a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had stopped giving formula samples …

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TweetSeptember 30, 2012,  The Globe and Mail
Peter Nieman, a well-known pediatrician based at Calgary’s Pediatric Weight Clinic, says that more often than not, when he sits down with parents of children who are overweight or obese, they don’t even realize there’s a problem.
Then, Nieman shows them growth charts and explains the trajectory their children are on: continued weight gain resulting in a significantly increased risk for high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and many other serious conditions.
“They’re sometimes stunned to see how bad it is,” Nieman said.
Mounting …

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September 21, 2012, New York Times, Roni Caryn Rabin
Amid fervid criticism that New York City risks becoming a nanny state, city health officials this month banned the sale of supersize sugar-laden drinks in restaurants and movie theaters. Now scientists have handed the ban’s advocates a potent weapon: strong evidence that replacing sugared drinks with sugar-free substitutes or water really can slow weight gain in children.
Two-thirds of all American adults and one-third of children in the United States are overweight or obese. The contribution of sugary sodas and fruit drinks to …

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TweetJuly 5, 2012
A study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found Chinese teenagers have a rate of diabetes nearly four times greater than their counterparts in the United States. The rise in the incidence of diabetes parallels increases in cardiovascular risk, researchers say, and is the result of a Chinese population that is growing increasingly overweight.
The study led by Barry Popkin, Ph.D., W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of nutrition at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Chinese researchers, used data from the …

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TweetThe Huffington Post, Timi Gustafson, June 28, 2012
Every meal should be a happy meal! From early on, kids begin to develop preferences for certain foods and dislikes for others. It is important for parents to understand that their children have different nutritional needs at each age based on their growth and development.
The nutritional benefits infants and toddlers receive play a decisive role in their physical and mental development. At the earliest stages of life, bodies need lots of calories, protein, fat and other nutrients. In particular the brain depends on …

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TweetJune 19, 2012, ABC Australia
The ACT School Canteen’s Association is concerned that commercial contractors taking over canteens are thinking only of the bottom-line.
Nutrition Australia says canteen profits should not have to come at the expense of children’s health.
Nutritionist Doctor Rosemary Stanton says 40 per cent of a child’s daily food intake is consumed at school.
“Surveys in some states found that the average kid was having three junk food treats a day at school,” she said.
“We don’t mind them doing it occasionally, it’s just that there’s a time and a place …

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TweetJune 18, 2012, Kuensel Online, Bhutan, by Sonam Pelden
Bhutan would have taller, smarter, healthier and stronger children after two generations if it feeds its children better today.
That would, however, be possible only if Bhutan and its neighbouring countries spent a Dollar (Nu 54) today to improve the nutritional status of its children and get an “economic return” of 16 Dollars (Nu 874) over a period of time, World Bank studies have found.
Senior nutrition specialist with World Bank, Luc Laviolette explained that this economic return is based on a combination of …

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TweetJune 14, 2012, CNN, Amanda Gardner
Obese children and teenagers face a slew of potential health problems as they get older, including an increased risk of diabetes, heart attacks, and certain cancers. As if that weren’t enough, obesity may harm young people’s long-term college and career prospects, too.
In recent years, an uneven yet growing body of research has suggested that obesity is associated with poorer academic performance beginning as early as kindergarten. Studies have variously found that obese students — and especially girls — tend to have lower test scores than …

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June 10, 2012, The Wall Street Journal
A new analysis showing a 23% jump in Type 1 diabetes among American youth is giving fresh impetus to researchers looking at whether environmental factors or behavior can influence the onset of the autoimmune disease.
Among the theories is the possibility that faster growth and weight gain early in life could exacerbate genetic factors and bring on the disease.
The study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, was reported this weekend at a meeting of the American …