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Children who eat vended snack foods Face Chronic Health Problems
Children who eat vended snack foods Face Chronic Health Problems
School children who consume foods purchased in vending machines are more likely to develop poor diet quality – and that may be associated with being overweight, obese or at risk for chronic health problems such as diabetes and coronary artery disease, according to research from the University of Michigan Medical School. 
The study also looked at foods sold in school stores, snack bars and other related sales that compete with USDA lunch program offerings and found that these pose the same health and diet risks in school-aged children.
“The foods that children are exposed to early on in life influence the pattern for their eating habits as adults,” says lead study author Madhuri Kakarala, M.D., Ph.D., clinical lecturer of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School.
Soft drinks accounted for more than two-thirds of beverages offered in school vending machines and stores. Desserts and fried snacks were the most commonly consumed vended items among elementary school children and beverages other than milk and fruit juice were the most commonly consumed items among middle and high school students. Other frequently consumed vended foods included candy, snack chips, crackers, cookies, cakes and ice cream.
Sleepy teens eat more fat
Too little sleep bad for teenagers’ diets: study
A study in the , journal Sleep shows that teens who slept less than eight hours per weeknight ate higher proportions of fatty foods and snacks than adolescents who slept eight hours or more. The results suggest that short sleep duration may increase obesity risk by causing small changes in eating patterns that cumulatively alter energy balance, especially in girls.
The sleep study involved 240 Cleveland teens ages 16 to 19.
Teens who slept less than eight hours on weeknights consumed 2.2 percentage points more calories from fats and 3.0 percentage points fewer calories from carbohydrates than teens who slept eight hours or more, after taking factors like age and sex into account, researchers said in Wednesday’s issue of the journal Sleep.
The changes in diet patterns offer insight into why less sleep has been linked with obesity in previous studies, said the study’s senior author, Dr. Susan Redline, a professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
For each one-hour increase in sleep, the odds of consuming a high number of calories from snacks also decreased by an average of 21 per cent, the researchers found.
Trained staff conducted two dietary intake interviews to collect details about food and portion sizes, as well as the timing, location, type and preparation of meals and snacks.
In the study, average weeknight sleep duration was calculated using at least three nights of data.
The average weeknight sleep duration was 7.55 hours. About a third of the teens slept for an average of eight hours or more.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that teens get at least nine hours of sleep each night to feel alert and well rested during the day.
The study cannot show whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship, but Redline said physiology studies have revealed several ways in which sleep loss may promote weight gain.
For example, getting less sleep is thought to change one’s metabolic rate and affect the production of leptin and ghrelin, two hormones that regulate appetite.
Redline said sleep might be the missing link in the fight against obesity — which has focused solely on diet and exercise.
Obesity on rise in US children a health risk
A nationwide poll conducted by the University of Michigan C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital on children’s health, adults believe that obesity among the U.S. children is growing at an alarming rate.
The adults, who took part in the May 2010 polls, also believe that the obesity in children has turned into a major health concern and is getting worse by the day.
“The national data about the rates of childhood obesity leveling off were collected in 2007 and 2008. The perspectives we’re hearing in this poll in 2010 may reflect new changes in obesity rates seen by adults in communities across the country,” said Matthew M. Davis of the U-M Medical School.
Poll results
The University of Michigan asked 2,064 adults to rate 10 health concerns for the children living their community.
As per poll results, childhood obesity turned out to be top most health concern with 38 percent adults categorizing it as a “major health concern.”
Kellogg’s Breakfast Cereals To Go Healthy
Kellogg’s Breakfast Cereals To Go Healthy
Kellogg’s is reducing the sugar content in a range of its breakfast cereals by 15%.
The move comes after criticism that high levels of sugar, salt and fat in cereals are contributing to childhood obesity.
The change will happen next year in four of the firm’s Coco Pops products.
Greg Peterson, Kellogg’s UK managing director, said: “We have listened to mums. They want a balance: lower sugar cereals which children will still eat.”
He added: “We have invested millions of pounds and thousands of staff hours over the last two years to make this happen, and will do this without compromising the taste.”
At present Coco Pops contain 35% sugar. After the reduction the level will go down to 29.75 %.
Kellogg’s move follows a trend of reductions – particularly in salt levels which have fallen significantly in a range of food products in recent years
Four out of 10 people have a box of Coco Pops in their cupboard
To Much Of A Good Thing Not Healthy
To Much Of A Good Thing Not Healthy. says
Dr. Teresa Quattrin of the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo says parents who think it’s fine for their children to eat a whole carton of strawberries are making a mistake.
“Too much healthy food can contribute to the problem, too.
Extra calories, along with low physical activity, lead to obesity — especially in people with a predisposition to developing the disease and certainly in kids whose parents are obese,” Quattrin said in a statement.
Some steps Quattrin recommends parents take to prevent obesity in their children include:
Educating themselves by finding out their children’s body mass index as well as their own.
Realizing young children who may not look overweight may still be obese.
Becoming good role models. If the home environment has refrigerator and pantry full of junk food instead of fruits and vegetables, the child grows up feeling that’s the way he or she should eat.
The American Obesity Association claims 15 percent of children from ages 6 to 11 and adolescents from ages 12 to 19 are obese in America. Obesity in children is a major health risk in the child’s development. Obesity can create many social problems for young children as well as emotional problems. Studies indicate that obese children will most likely become obese adults as well.
Reseach Proves Kids Need To Eat Breakfast
Kids Need To Eat Breakfast
Children who regularly skip breakfast before going to school are nearly twice as likely to be obese
Researchers from the University of Essex found that a quarter of boys and a third of girls regularly miss breakfast. These children were less physically active and fit than those who did eat before leaving the house, and were more likely to be overweight or obese.
The researchers said this suggested that the lower physical activity in children who skipped breakfast could be having a knock-on effect, with those missing the meal twice as likely to be obese.
The study of 4,000 ten to 16-year-olds looked at the fitness, physical activity, weight and breakfast habits of school children.
When the researchers asked the children why they didn’t eat breakfast, the boys claimed that it was because they lacked time in the mornings, while the girls said they thought it would help them lose weight.
Lead researcher Dr Gavin Sandercock said, ‘There is great national concern about children’s increasing weight, decreasing activity and decreasing fitness. You don’t see many factors that relate so strongly to all three, but it appears that children who regularly eat breakfast are thinner, more active and even fitter than those who don’t.’
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