Extensive research, and up-to-date facts about obese children and its health issues. An easy-to-read book with practical advice that can make a difference. Plus free bonus book of hints and tips to improve your child's eating habits.

AP Photo The number of overweight children under five years of age is set to almost double from 42 million to 70 million worldwide, which is a ticking global pandemic. The United Nations Organization blames the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages and asks governments to reverse the trend. 1990 - 31 million overweight under-5s. 2014 - 41 million overweight under-5s. 2024 - a projected 70 million overweight under-5s. And the focus of the UNO's concern is that many of these cases of childhood obesity are occurring in developing countries. The culprit? "The marketing of unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverages is a major factor in the alarming increase", reads the report by the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO), presented this week to the World Health Organization. Direct negative effect on health and education Childhood obesity can have a direct negative effect on educational development, quite apart from posing economic hardship and physical and mental health consequences. The phenomenon cuts across all socio-economic groups and is not restricted to Western Europe and North America. Around three-quarters of overweight children of this age group reside in Asia and Africa: around half in the former and a quarter in the latter.

Title: Read Food Labels to Combat Childhood Obesity
Category: Health News
Created: 8/22/2014 5:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 8/25/2014 12:00:00 AM

When gestational diabetes is diagnosed, achieving quick glycemic control can reduce the baby's risk of obesity in childhood to a level comparable to that

Traffic pollution contributes to childhood obesity, a recent study concludes. In the US investigation of over 4 500 children, the researchers estimated that air pollution increased the body mass index (BMI) of 10-year olds in the most polluted areas of study by 0.4 units, compared to those in the least polluted areas. It is thought that pollution may have slowed the children’s metabolism.

“Inconvenient Truth” producer Laurie David teams up with Katie Couric to make a film that has the Grocery Manufacturers Association defending its efforts.

Christopher Carroll, MD, discusses an article published in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine titled, "Childhood Obesity Increases Duration Of Therapy During Severe Asthma Exacerbations." Dr. Carroll is a pediatric intensivist at Connecticut Children's Medical Center. (Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2006:527-31)

Monogenic forms of obesity have been identified in ≤10% of severely obese European patients. However, the overall spectrum of deleterious variants (point mutations and structural variants) responsible for childhood severe obesity remains elusive. In this study, we genetically screened 225 severely obese children from consanguineous Pakistani families through a combination of techniques including an in-house developed augmented whole-exome sequencing (CoDE-seq) enabling simultaneous detection of whole exome copy number variations (CNVs) and of point mutations in coding regions. We identified 110 probands (49%) carrying 55 different pathogenic point mutations and CNVs in 13 genes/loci responsible for non-syndromic and syndromic monofactorial obesity. CoDE-seq also identified 28 rare or novel CNVs associated with intellectual disability in 22 additional obese subjects (10%). Additionally, we highlight variants in candidate genes for obesity warranting further investigation. Altogether, 59% of the studied cohort are likely to have a discrete genetic cause with 13% of these due to CNVs demonstrating a remarkably higher prevalence of monofactorial obesity than hitherto reported and a plausible over lapping of obesity and intellectual disabilities in several cases. Finally, inbred populations with high prevalence of obesity, provide a unique genetically enriched material in quest of new genes/variants influencing energy balance.

The UK government published its report Childhood Obesity: a Plan for Action, in August 2016. A new analysis article takes them to task for the inadequacy of that response to a growing problem. Neena Modi is a professor of neonatal medicine, at Imperial College London, and president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and joins...

OBJECTIVE

On the basis of urinary steroidal gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we previously defined a novel concept of a disease-specific "steroid metabolomic signature" and reclassified childhood obesity into five groups with distinctive signatures. The objective of the current study was to delineate the steroidal signature of insulin resistance (IR) in obese children.

Pediatric obesity is a prevalent public health issue that is associated with medical and physical consequences. Clinic-based interventions for pediatric obesity are effective, but they have limited reach and are costly.

This is the first examination of an empirically informed, scalable treatment of pediatric overweight and obesity delivered in YMCAs. The results indicate that a scalable, community-based pediatric obesity intervention can produce clinically meaningful changes in weight and quality of life. (Read the full article)

About one in five 2-year-olds are overweight, with potential adverse outcomes. Early feeding practices lay the foundation for food preferences and eating behavior and may contribute to future obesity risk. High-quality obesity prevention trials commencing in infancy are rare.

In this large randomized controlled trial, anticipatory guidance on the "when, what, and how" of complementary feeding was associated with increased maternal "protective" feeding practices. Differences in anthropometric indicators were in the expected direction but did not achieve statistical significance. (Read the full article)

Health care professionals face problems managing obesity and often fail to follow guidelines for its management in practice. Only a few single-country reports are available describing delivery of primary care to children with obesity.

Nearly all primary pediatric care providers from 4 European countries recognize the importance of obesity in pediatric practice, but only half use BMI clinically, and many lack the confidence and the infrastructure needed for providing care to patients with obesity. (Read the full article)

The number of overweight and obese children has dramatically increased in recent decades. To combat this trend, information on possible gender-related differences in risk factors of overweight and obesity is critical.

This study examines associations of gender and physiologic and behavior measurements with potential cardiovascular risk. Lunch consumption and screen time were associated with weight; however, other associations with weight differ by gender. This information can be used to tailor future interventions. (Read the full article)

Childhood obesity poses a serious threat to human health. Obesity is caused by genetic and environmental factors and linked to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Pediatric obesity cohorts aim at understanding early events in the pathophysiology of obesity-related complications.

Cohort subjects are examined at consecutive visits, including measurements of glucose tolerance and hormones regulating nutrient handling (enhanced glucose tolerance tests) and body composition (MRI and bioimpedance). Mechanisms causing obese children to progress to type 2 diabetes are delineated. (Read the full article)

Family meals are protective for child health, but there are inconsistent findings in relation to child weight status. More research is needed examining why family meals are protective for child health and whether there are differences by child weight status.

The current mixed-methods study used direct observational methods to examine family dynamics during family meals and child weight status. Results indicated that positive family interpersonal and food-related dynamics during family meals were associated with reduced prevalence of childhood obesity. (Read the full article)

Why childhood obesity matters According to the latest data, childhood obesity affects nearly 1 in 5 children in the United States, a number which has more than tripled since the early 1970s. Children who have obesity are at a higher risk of many immediate health risks such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, type…

Why childhood obesity matters According to the latest data, childhood obesity affects nearly 1 in 5 children in the United States, a number which has more than tripled since the early 1970s. Children who have obesity are at a higher risk of many immediate health risks such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, type…

Highlights: Children who are obese are at higher risk of developing heart disease later Regular physical ac