Nutrition News

Parents who smoked had 40% greater odds of having children who were overweight or obese, according to findings recently published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

Interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by young children are successful when targeting vulnerable populations, including low-income families and racial and/or ethnic minorities. They are also effective when used in settings such as preschools or day care centers.

Increased weight in infancy does not predict childhood obesity, and more than half of infants with overweight had a normal BMI by age 8 years, according to an analysis of three longitudinal growth studies published in Pediatric Obesity.

Teens with overweight or obesity and uncontrolled asthma who consumed two nutritional supplement bars daily and attended nutrition and exercise classes experienced improved lung function and a better quality of life without losing weight, according to results of a small pilot clinical trial published in The FASEB Journal.

The Mediterranean diet, one that includes frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables, breads, legumes, nuts and seeds, with most fats consumed through olive oil, has positive effects on teenagers’ academic performance. This positive effect is facilitated through improvements in their sleep quality, researchers found.

Proper maternal nutrition is essential to child growth in utero, where the placenta provides a continuous source of protein, calories and various nutrients for the developing fetus. This nutrition promotes adequate growth of bone, muscle and internal organs, including the digestive and nervous systems.

Data appearing in Pediatrics earlier this year showed that children and adults seeking long-term treatment for type 1 diabetes who followed a very-low carbohydrate diet had measures of glycemic control in the near-normal range, generally high levels of satisfaction with health and diabetes control, and low rates of hypoglycemia and other adverse events.

Women who maintain an overall healthy lifestyle, characterized by a healthy BMI, regular exercise, not smoking and moderate consumption of alcohol, are more likely to have offspring without obesity in adolescence vs. mothers who do not adhere to a healthy lifestyle, according to an analysis of mother-child pairs published in The BMJ.

The percentage of American teens with overweight and obesity who have tried to lose weight has decreased between 1988-1994 and 2009-2014, according to research published in JAMA Pediatrics. This decrease was observed in both boys and girls.

A survey conducted by the International Food Information Council revealed that more than a third of Americans follow a specific diet plan, and about one in four said they trust health care professionals regarding which foods to eat or avoid.