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Action for Healthy Kids

Source: Action for Health Kids

Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) is a nationwide initiative dedicated to improving the health and educational performance of children through better nutrition and physical activity in schools.  Also available on this site is a searchable database of programs and policies that have been successfully implemented in schools and communities nationwide.  http://www.actionforhealthykids.org

Best, Worst Snacks For Kids Listed

Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer On-Line, September 16, 2003

While children need to exercise to keep their waistlines trim, schools could do their part by offering healthier snacks in school in place of junk food and sodas, activists say. As part of a campaign to reduce the number of sugary soft drinks and candy bars sold in schools, the Center for Science in the Public Interest put out a list Monday of some of the healthiest and worst snacks for children.

California Signs Into Law Childhood Obesity Prevention Act

Source: California Center for Public Health Advocacy, September 18, 2003

The California Childhood Obesity Prevention Act of 2003 - Senator Deborah Ortiz On Tuesday, September 16th, Governor Gray Davis signed SB 677 (Ortiz) into law, ensuring that only healthy beverages are sold on elementary, middle and junior high school campuses, beginning on July 1, 2004. This bill is an important step towards expanding on the success of SB 19 (2001 - Escutia) and addressing the childhood obesity epidemic in California.

http://www.publichealthadvocacy.org/legislation/legislation_2003.html

Group Targets Soda in Schools to Help Fight Obesity Problem

Source: Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2004

Soft drinks should be eliminated from schools to help tackle the nation's obesity epidemic and pediatricians should work with their local schools to ensure that children are offered healthful alternatives, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.

The Junk-food Bin in the School Hall

Source: Seattle Times, January 28, 2004

Public schools that sell junk food and soft drinks to children are contributing to the nation's childhood-obesity epidemic. It's time for them to stop.  Last year, this page stopped short of supporting a statewide ban on soft drinks in public schools. But times are changing. It is becoming increasingly clear that obesity is a public-health issue that demands bold state action.  There's not sufficient political will to ban soda and junk food sales this legislative session, as one bill proposes. Alternative pending legislation would create a model nutrition policy for the state and require districts to adopt their own policies by 2005. It's a decent compromise — for now.

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Legislation Aims to Make School Snacks Healthier

Source: Tennessean, February 9, 2004

When Valerie Cantrell’s son started kindergarten, she was asked to give him a few dollars for snacks.  That was fine, at least until she found out the snacks available to her 5-year-old were a bag of chips and a soda.

No Soda in Schools

Source: State Health Notes, January 26, 2004

In an effort to reduce childhood obesity, on Jan. 5, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement encouraging schools to eliminate soda from vending machines and to sell only real fruit and vegetable juices, water and low-fat milk. The policy points out that sweetened drinks constitute the primary source of added sugar in the daily diet of children, and that each 12-ounce serving of a carbonated, sweetened soft drink contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar. The Academy reports that soft drink consumption has been associated with the increased risk of overweight and obesity, currently the most common childhood condition. The policy also recommends that pediatricians advocate the creation of a school advisory council to ensure that schools adopt nutritional policies based on the needs of children; that school districts publicly discuss any vending machine contracts before signing; and, that the consumption or advertising of soft drinks within the classroom should be eliminated. To read the policy, visit www.aap.org/policy/s010119.html.

OBESITY: A Weighty Issue For Children

Source: Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 111, Number 13, October 2003

Oh, to be a child in America: Morning cartoons with a breakfast of sugar-coated cereal, hours on the sofa munching chips and playing video games, matinee movies enjoyed with mega-sized servings of soda and popcorn, frozen dinners followed by more hours of surfing computer chat rooms, and finally bed. In all, this combination of inactivity and gluttonous feeding, which is shared by millions of American children, fuels one of the country’s most alarming pediatric problems: obesity. According to America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2003, issues in July 2003 by the Federal Interagency Forum on Children and Family Statistics, the number of over-weight and obese children in the United States has more than doubled in the last two decades.

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2003/111-13/focus.html

Obesity Cost Taxpayers $39B in 2003

Source: USA Today, January 22, 2004

Obese Americans -- those who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight -- cost the country about $75 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2003, and taxpayers paid for about half of that, a study revealed Wednesday. Almost 65% of Americans weigh too much. Extra weight increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, several types of cancer and other diseases.

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040122/5859923s.htm

Obesity is Linked to Rising Disability in Younger Adults

Source: Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2004

Disability among Americans in the prime of their working lives has risen sharply in the past two decades, another consequence of the nation's obesity epidemic. Researchers at Rand Corp. found a 40% to 50% rise in recent years in the number of people from the ages of 30 to 49 whose ability to care for themselves or perform routine tasks was limited by disability

Obesity: Not just a phase kids outgrow

Source: AMEDNEWS.COM, Editorial. Dec. 22/29, 2003

Addressing weight issues with children and adolescents requires a multifaceted approach from physicians that often involves the entire family.

For more information, visit http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2003/12/22/edsa1222.htm

Obesity Turning Into Major Threat for Nation’s Kids

Source: Seattle Times, February 4, 2004

When Alex was a baby, his round cheeks and chubby legs were admired by all. "You've got yourself a little football player," smiling strangers would tell his mother, Rana Hilderbrand…How did nearly 9 million U.S. children get this way, so overweight that their health is at risk? Nine million more are almost there. That's triple the rates of a generation ago, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2001850357_weightkids04.html

Panel Set to Rid Florida School of Junk Food

Source: Unknown, December 30, 2003

Potato chips, soft drinks and other junk food may disappear from Florida schools under 21 draft recommendations approved by the governor's task force on obesity.

Perspective: Overweight in Childhood and Adolescence

Source: NEJM, February 26, 2004, Vol. 350, No. 9

The prevalence of overweight doubled among children 6 to 11 years of age and tripled among those 12 to 17 years of age between the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted between 1976 and 1980, and the most recent such survey, conducted in 1999 and 2000.

Physical Fitness Plan

Source: State Health Notes, January 12, 2004

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle used a Dec. 8th visit to a Green Bay elementary school to update the physical education curriculum to encourage greater emphasis on fitness.  Doyle also launched a Governor’s Healthy Kids Initiative website that will provide students and parents with information on health and fitness issues, along with links to programs and resources on the web. As part of the initiative, he announced 17 appointments to his Council on Physical Fitness and Health. In the past, Doyle noted, “gym classes have traditionally emphasized team sports. Today,” he continued, “we need to teach our kids fitness activities they can use throughout their lifetime.” According to a release, 16 percent of Wisconsin children are obese, four times the rate in the 1960s, increasing the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart and gall bladder disease.

Physicians Key to Winning Fight Against Fat

Source: AMEDNEWS.COM, January 12, 2004

Just before the Obesity Action Workshop at last month's AMA Interim Meeting a doctor approached Melvyn Sterling, MD, to express his frustration that nothing he did seemed effective in helping patients manage their weight.  Dr. Sterling, the forum moderator and an internist from Huntington Beach, Calif., was not surprised. He explained later that his colleague's comment illustrates the struggle doctors face in trying to deal with obesity. They don't think there is much they can do. And their hopelessness is so pervasive that numerous studies show they often don't even ask patients about their weight.  http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/01/12/hlsc0112.htm

Prevalence of No Leisure-Time Physical Activity – 35 States and the District of Columbia, 1988-2002

Source: MMWR Weekly, February 6, 2004

Physical inactivity is associated with obesity and increased risk for chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and diabetes mellitus) and premature mortality

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5304a4.htm

Representative Hastings Calls Fruit The Root Of Nutrition

Source: Yakima Herald On-Line, September 23, 2003

Kids who ate more fresh fruit and vegetables under a trial federal program were more attentive in class, made fewer visits to the school nurse and were more likely to pick healthy foods for snacks and meals, a U.S. Department of Agriculture study has found. Hardly brain surgery. But at a time of alarming increases in obesity among kids, the obvious is worth promoting in public schools, U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings said Monday. http://www.yakima-herald.com/premium/278712609922142.news

Researchers Link Ads to Childhood Obesity

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 24, 2004

Thousands of advertisements for candy and sugary foods help fuel the epidemic of childhood obesity in America, a pair of new studies asserts.  The Kaiser Family Foundation said in a study released Tuesday that the main mechanism through which the media contributes to childhood obesity is through billions of dollars worth of advertising.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer/ap.asp?category=1500&slug=Advertising%20Children

Senate Passes Nutrition/Physical Activity Bill

Source: ASTHO Adolescent and School Health, January 2004  

The U.S. Senate recently approved the “Improved Nutrition and Physical Activity Act,” or “IMPACT Act,” in order to address overweight and obesity.  The Act creates and expands grants to improve nutrition and physical activity behaviors among youth, targeting schools and communities among other important partners.   View the details of S.1172 at: http://thomas.loc.gov.

http://www.astho.org/newsletter/newsletters/1/display.php?u=Jmk9MSZwPTU4JnM9NDM5

States and cities, exercised over obesity, work to fight it

Source: Seattle PI, December 23, 2003

Fighting to shed a few pounds and control that waistline? For the soaring number of Americans who are becoming dangerously overweight, states and cities across the country want to help. With the U.S. surgeon general calling obesity an epidemic, legislators nationwide are offering measures to encourage healthy food choices and ban the worst temptations. Skeptics say government should stay away from trying to legislate something as personal as what we eat. But supporters say they can't ignore a growing public health problem or how it drives the ever-rising cost of health care.   For more information, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/153605_health23.html

Student Obesity Targeted

Source: Washington Post, February 10, 2004

Soda at lunch would be out. Gym class would be in, possibly every day of the week. And all students in Maryland's public schools would have to report their weight to federal researchers.

Calling obesity a national epidemic that is costing Maryland residents billions of dollars, a Montgomery County delegate yesterday touted a package of legislation aimed at improving nutritional standards in schools and promoting exercise.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30235-2004Feb10?language=printer

Students Learn to Dispense with Sodas

Source: LA Times, February 12, 2004

Nibbling at the ice cream cone he said was his lunch, eyes fixed longingly on the campus vending machine where the Pepsi used to be, Yan Popkov revealed himself to be an unhappy young man.
"I hate it!" the 14-year-old Hollywood High freshman said of the Los Angeles Unified School District's month-old ban on sugary sodas. "Soda is basically the only thing I drink. It's the only reason I'm up."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-soda12feb12,1,393358,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Tubby Tots: How Parents Can Help Overweight Kids

Source: Seattle Times, February 4, 2004

No doubt you've seen the headlines, the warnings, the government reports all declaring childhood obesity an epidemic. Stories lamenting the super-sizing of our children may have you wondering if your own are at risk of becoming a statistic.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=weightparents04&date=20040204

TV Viewing Impacts Adolescents’ Eating Patterns

Source: ASTHO Adolescent and School Health, December 2003

Research in a December Pediatrics article found that television viewing is inversely associated with fruit and vegetable intake among adolescents.  Researchers examined the association between television/video viewing per day and students’ fruit and vegetable intake.  For each additional hour of TV/video viewed, youths’ fruit and vegetable servings decreased. Boynton-Jarret R, et al.  (2003). Impact of Television Viewing Patterns on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Adolescents.  Pediatrics, 112(6):  1321-1326. 

http://www.astho.org/newsletter/newsletters/1/display.php?u=Jmk9MSZwPTM4JnM9MjUz

Urge Your Children to Put Down Sugar-Filled Drinks

Source: The Olympian, February 24, 2004

The alarming increase in childhood obesity and subsequent poor health leave many parents wondering how to adjust their family's lifestyle.  The American Academy of Pediatrics has advice. Calling being overweight "the most common medical condition of childhood," the academy's January journal stated that the high intake of soft drinks is one big culprit, causing overweight and obesity, displacing milk's dietary benefits and resulting in more cavities and eroding tooth enamel.

http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040224/living/424.shtml  

U.S. Teens More Overweight Than Youth in 14 Other Countries

Source: ASTHO: Adolescent and School Health, February 2004

U.S. teens are more likely to be overweight than are teens from 14 other industrialized nations, according to an article in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.  Researchers, looking at BMI in 13- and 15-year-olds, found the highest prevalence of overweight in the United States and the lowest in Lithuania.  The prevalence of overweight in the United States was 12.6% and 10.8% in 13-year-old boys and girls, respectively, and 13.9% and 15.1% in 15-year-old boys and girls.  The highest prevalences of overweight were found in the United States, Ireland, Greece, and Portugal.  Study authors stressed the importance of obesity prevention at a young age, since many overweight youth remain obese as adults.

http://www.astho.org/newsletter/newsletters/1/display.php?u=Jmk9MSZwPTcyJnM9NTQ3