Childhood Obesity News and Research

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Connecticut Children's OCCH receives $1M grant to address critical public health issues for children

UnitedHealthcare has provided a $1 million grant for the Connecticut Children's Medical Center's Office for Community Child Health to help enhance care delivery and address critical public health issues for children. These issues include child development, wellness, and chronic conditions such as asthma and obesity.

11 Mar 2014

Harvard Review of Psychiatry provides updates on ASD research

Recent years have seen exciting progress in key areas of research on autism spectrum disorders (ASD): from possible genetic causes, to effective treatments for common symptoms and clinical problems, to promoting success for young people with ASD entering college. Updates on these and other advances in ASD research are presented in the March special issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

10 Mar 2014

Motivating kids to be more physically active

Parents can help motivate kids to be more physically active, but the influence may not result in an improvement in their children's body mass index (BMI), finds a new evidence review in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

5 Mar 2014

Crates and buckets encourage children to be more active, creative than expensive play equipment

Cheap items like crates and buckets encourage children to be more active and creative than expensive play equipment, researchers have found.

4 Mar 2014

Active video gaming increases physical activity and reduces excess weight among obese children

Research published online today by the scientific journal JAMA Pediatrics demonstrates that including active video gaming in a 16-week pediatric obesity intervention program resulted in a clinically significant increase in physical activity and a reduction in excess weight among overweight and obese children. The research will be published in the May issue of the journal.

4 Mar 2014

Viewpoints: The evolution of Medicare; generic drugs and patient safety; new food labels

About half a century ago, organized medicine and the hospital industry in this country struck a deal with Congress that in retrospect seems as audacious as it seems incredible: Congress was asked to surrender to these industries the keys to the United States Treasury. In return, the industries would allow Congress to pass a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act .... We have come to know it as Medicare.

3 Mar 2014

New nutrition labels to highlight calories, added sugar

First Lady Michelle Obama will introduce the new labeling, which will have greater focus on calories and added sugar.

28 Feb 2014

UnitedHealthcare, Konami bring DDR CE Classroom Edition "exergame" to Boys & Girls Club of Southern Nevada

UnitedHealthcare and Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today are bringing the DanceDanceRevolution (DDR CE) Classroom Edition "exergame" to the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Nevada, where local youths will use the popular dance game to have fun and improve their fitness.

20 Feb 2014

Health effects of childhood obesity may be long-lasting and profound

Childhood obesity rates have nearly tripled in the previous 30 years and researchers are asking the important question of how this epidemic will impact the future health of these obese children and public health in general. A University of Colorado Cancer Center article recently published in the journal Gerontology shows that even in cases in which obese children later lose weight, the health effects of childhood obesity may be long-lasting and profound.

14 Feb 2014

$Obese children more likely to sustain complex supracondylar humeral fractures$

Obese children more likely to sustain complex supracondylar humeral fractures

11 Feb 2014

Exposure to Manga comics promotes fruit intake and healthy snack selection

A recent pilot study in Brooklyn, New York, with minority students found that exposure to Manga comics (Japanese comic art) promoting fruit intake significantly improved healthy snack selection. As snacking accounts for up to 27% of children's daily caloric intake, and childhood obesity has been linked to inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables, the results of this study could have wide-reaching implications.

11 Feb 2014

$Children diagnosed with obesity more likely to sustain complex fractures$

Children diagnosed with obesity more likely to sustain complex fractures

Pediatric obesity is currently an epidemic, with the prevalence having quadruped over the last 25 years. Children diagnosed with obesity can be at risk for various long-term health issues and may be putting their musculoskeletal system at risk. According to new research in the February issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, obese children who sustain a supracondylar humeral (above the elbow) fracture can be expected to have more complex fractures and experience more postoperative complications than children of a normal weight.

10 Feb 2014

Study shows decline in obesity rate among low-income pre-school children

In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama referred to an August 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that showed a decline in the obesity rate among low-income pre-school children, saying, "Michelle's Let's Move! partnership with schools, businesses and local leaders has helped bring down childhood obesity rates for the first time in 30 years, and that's an achievement that will improve lives and reduce health care costs for decades to come."

6 Feb 2014

Meta-analysis study says more than half of parents do not recognize that their child is overweight

In the idyllic town of Lake Wobegon, all the children are above average.

5 Feb 2014

Study analyzing concussion data for NFL players may provide insight that could lead to safer play

A new study analyzing concussion data for NFL players during the16-game regular season schedules for 2012 and 2013 may provide insight that could lead to safer play, including a pathway for concussion-prevention strategies.

4 Feb 2014

Overweight kindergarten kids may become obese teenagers

The risk of children growing up into obese teenagers may be influenced by whether or not they were overweight as early on as 5 years old, report U.S. researchers.

30 Jan 2014

Obese kids exposed to high levels of air pollutants are nearly 3 times as likely to have asthma

Obese children exposed to high levels of air pollutants were nearly three times as likely to have asthma, compared with non-obese children and lower levels of pollution exposure, report researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC).

23 Jan 2014

Broader public health strategies needed to tackle childhood obesity, say health researchers

Public health researchers from The University of Manchester have found single dietary interventions are not effective at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among overweight children and will not halt the global epidemic in childhood obesity.

From The University of Manchester 20 Jan 2014

Study: Children who eat more fast food are not likely to become obese

For several years, many have been quick to attribute rising fast-food consumption as the major factor causing rapid increases in childhood obesity. Now researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report that fast-food consumption is simply a byproduct of a much bigger problem: poor all-day-long dietary habits that originate in children's homes.

16 Jan 2014

Study identifies 3 most significant risk factors for child obesity among preschoolers

A University of Illinois study has identified the three most significant risk factors for child obesity among preschoolers: (1) inadequate sleep, (2) a parental BMI that classifies the mom or dad as overweight or obese, and (3) parental restriction of a child's eating in order to control his weight.

15 Jan 2014