Tag: obesity
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High Trans Fat Diet Associated with Overweight Infants
A recent study has suggested that mothers who consume diets high in trans fats could double the risk that their babies will have high levels of body fat. Alex Anderson, et al., “Dietary trans fatty acid intake and maternal and infant adiposity,” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, September 2010. University of Georgia (UGA) researchers studied 95 mothers…
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Prenatal DDE Exposure Allegedly Linked to Accelerated Growth
A recent study reportedly claims that prenatal exposure to the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its breakdown product dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) is associated with accelerated growth and elevated BMI in infants born to normal-weight mothers. Michelle Mendez, et al., “Prenatal Organochlorine Compound Exposure, Rapid Weight Gain and Overweight in Infancy,” Environmental Health Perspectives, October 2010. Researchers apparently…
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Red Meat Allegedly Linked to Metabolic Syndrome
A recent study has purportedly linked processed red meat consumption to metabolic syndrome (MetS), which includes health factors such as abdominal obesity and elevated triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, blood pressure, or fasting glucose, or reduced HDL cholesterol. N. Babio, et al., “Association between red meat consumption and metabolic syndrome in a Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular…
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IOM Launches New Obesity Prevention Activity
The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) Food and Nutrition Board recently launched a new activity titled “Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention,” which aims to review IOM’s obesity-prevention strategies and make further recommendations. Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an ad hoc committee of academic, industry and scientific experts will undertake a 21-month study intended for…
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Rudd Center Issues Policy Guide on Obesity
The Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has released a fall 2010 paper highlighting obesity prevention policies with “the potential for the greatest impact.” The center’s recommendations relate to preschools and schools, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, marketing to children, weight bias, food deserts, and ongoing surveillance of these efforts. Among other guidelines, the…
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Michelle Obama Urges Restaurants to Offer Healthier Fare
First Lady Michelle Obama recently urged restaurants to offer healthier fare to help reduce “obesity-related conditions” in the United States. Speaking before the National Restaurant Association on September 13, 2010, Obama said “that while restaurants are offering more options and families take advantage of them more often, they aren’t always the healthiest choices.” Asserting that…
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IOM Workshop to Target Legal Strategies for Preventing Childhood Obesity
The National Academies’ Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Childhood Obesity Prevention will convene a public workshop on October 21, 2010, in Washington, D.C., to “highlight the evidence on current and potential legal strategies and their outcomes” in the prevention of childhood obesity. The gathering of researchers, policy makers, legal scholars, industry representatives, and public…
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U.S. Researchers Claim That Overweight Youth Are Getting Heavier
Overweight Americans ages 2 to 19 have become heavier over the last decade, according to a newly published study. May Beydoun & Youfa Wang, “Sociodemographic disparities in distribution shifts over time in various adiposity measures among American children and adolescents: What changes in prevalence rates could not reveal,” International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, August 2010.…