The New York Times, Roni Caryn Rabin, May 10, 2010
Schoolchildren are more likely to be bullied if they are overweight, and a new study suggests just how much more likely: 60 percent more, if they are obese (with a body mass index in the 95th percentile for children in their age group), and 13 percent more, if they are simply overweight (85th percentile or higher).
The researchers also tried to determine if overweight children from certain backgrounds were more vulnerable than others, and if some had social skills or other characteristics …

Center for American Progress, By Ellen-Marie Whelan, Lesley Russell, Sonia Sekhar | May 10, 2010
Obese American children and teenagers today are on track to have poor health throughout their adult lives. Overall, this next generation of Americans could be the first to have shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. Childhood obesity rates have more than tripled since 1980, and current data show that almost one-third of children over 2 years of age are already overweight or obese.
Download the full report (pdf)
Download the executive summary (pdf)
Obese children and adolescents are more likely to …

ZDnet, Dana Blankenhorn | May 4, 2010,
To all the cries of “big brother” and “nanny state” that come here whenever I touch on preventable causes of death and campaigns to fight back I have one word.
Oregon.
A study published in Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine this week describes a childhood obesity epidemic that has gotten noticeably worse since 2003.
Nearly one-third of all school-age children in 2007 were overweight, the study says, and nearly 22% of Mississippi kids were clinically obese, headed for a short life of heart attacks and diabetes.
The exception? Oregon, …

Dr. Carmen Rita Nevarez, May 6, 2010
When Santa Clara County lawmakers passed the nation’s first ordinance setting standards for restaurant toy giveaways last month, the restaurant industry let loose with a loud, if somewhat predictable, cry that government was interfering in individual choice.
It’s time for a little dose of reality.
Far from the intrusion that the restaurant association would have you believe it is, this new law does not ban toys. Rather, the ordinance requires that meals accompanied by toys meet basic nutrition standards. It’s an interesting approach: reward good behavior, …

McClatchy Newspapers, May 11, 2010
The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity issued a blueprint Tuesday that’s thick with ideas but doesn’t put the hammer down yet on taxpayers or private industry.
A national soda tax? Worth further study, but not this year. New regulatory authority over food marketing to children, or changes to agricultural subsidies to make fresh fruit and vegetables cheaper? Possibilities down the road, but why not first encourage more voluntary steps by the private sector?
The 124-page report from the task force that President Barack Obama created three …