Nutrition News

ORLANDO — Nearly half of families who brought a child to the hospital reported experiencing food insecurity, according to a presentation at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition.

Pediatric nutrition counseling occurred in fewer than 4% of annual wellness visits in South Carolina during an 8-year span despite national recommendations encouraging clinicians to do so, according to a presenter at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Expo.

BOSTON — Employing the concept of metabolic flexibility — the body’s ability to oxidize the type of fuel that is available — may offer the best hope for curbing obesity, according to a speaker at the Cardiometabolic Health Congress.

In this guest editorial, medical student Sandrine N. Defeu, BS, MPH, and her mentor, Bhargavi B. Kola, MD, MPA, FAAP, an associate professor and regional vice-chair in the department of pediatrics at Texas Tech University, Permian Basin campus, discuss current evidence regarding the health effects of energy drink consumption among adolescents, how these drinks are marketed to youth, and why providers should raise the subject with their younger patients.

Although fast-food restaurants have attempted to offer healthier options for children, 74% of parents still purchase unhealthy drinks and sides for their children from these restaurants, according to a report issued by the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

Very low birth weight infants receiving care in a neonatal ICU received less energy and protein when their feeds were fortified during the transition from enteral to parenteral delivery of nutrition, according to research published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Adolescents and young adults with vitamin D deficiency are nearly 2.5 times more likely to have metabolic syndrome vs. those without vitamin D deficiency, according to findings from an ongoing study of participants in China.

Teenagers who excessively consumed beverages with free, or added, fructose had a fivefold increase in allergy symptoms, according to an analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data recently published in Annals of Family Medicine.

A dietary and lifestyle intervention for pregnant women who were overweight or obese did not alter their children’s growth or adiposity at 18 months, according to a study results published in Pediatrics.

Eating fast foods, particularly hamburgers, three or more times a week correlated to asthma in a dose-response pattern, according to a systematic review recently published in Respirology.