Obesity Facts and Information

Federal Panel Urges Obesity Screening for Kids Ages 6 and Up

A federal panel of health experts has issued new recommendations encouraging U.S. doctors to screen children aged 6 and older for obesity, and to offer them a referral to intensive weight management programs when necessary. The recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) update those issued in 2005. At that time, the group said [...]

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Missing DNA can promote childhood obesity

Some children get severely obese because they lack particular chunks of DNA, which kicks their hunger into overdrive, researchers report. The British researchers checked the DNA of 300 children who’d become very fat, on the order of 220 pounds by age 10. They looked for deletions or extra copies of DNA segments. They found evidence that several [...]

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Kids should get moving to avoid obesity

Vigorous exercise may be an especially good way to keep kids lean, but sitting around, in and of itself, doesn’t appear to have a major role in making them fat, new research shows. Nevertheless, there are still plenty of reasons to avoid too much sedentary “screen time,” Dr. Ulf Ekelund of the MRC Epidemiology Unit in [...]

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Obese children more likely to have allergies

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Obese children and adolescents are 26 percent more likely to have some kind of allergy, especially to food, U.S. researchers said on Monday. They said it is not clear from the study if obesity causes allergies, but it suggests controlling obesity in young people may be important for lowering rates of childhood allergies [...]

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Obese Children More Often Suffer Lower Body Injuries

SATURDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) — The bones and muscles of the lower body appear to be more vulnerable to injury in obese children than their lighter peers, a new study suggests. The study analyzed the weight and injuries of kids who visited a children’s hospital’s emergency department over a three-year period. Sprains, such as to [...]

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