Pediatric Obesity

LAS VEGAS — An unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are considered the most influential factors in pediatric obesity development, according to presented at ObesityWeek.

Children with autism spectrum disorder are 41% more likely to develop obesity than typically developing children living in the same geographical regions, according to findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Pediatric Obesity.

NEW ORLEANS — Pediatric patients with severe obesity who underwent bariatric surgery between 2015 and 2017 had low rates of readmission, reoperation and complications, regardless of age or BMI, according to study findings presented at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition.

LAS VEGAS— ObesityWeek 2019 offers attendees a full schedule of cutting-edge nutrition, obesity, public policy and bariatric surgery research, with a special series of lectures this year focusing on type 2 diabetes, one of obesity’s more common comorbidities.

NEW ORLEANS — A new AAP policy statement offered ways for pediatricians to improve access to metabolic and bariatric surgery for pediatric and adolescent patients who qualify for the procedures.

Among children with obesity, there is a negative association between total antioxidant capacity and systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure, according to findings published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases.

Current guidelines for assessing pediatric obesity would have missed 32% of cases with an underlying cause among a cohort of children who underwent extensive work-up for obesity, according to findings presented at the annual meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology.

Despite efforts in recent years to improve healthy beverage intake among young children, many kids still do not consume enough healthy drinks to support their nutritional needs and development, according to a report issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research program. The program convened a panel of experts from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the AAP, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Heart Association to offer recommendations to encourage the consumption of healthy drinks in children up to age 5 years.

Among the top stories in endocrinology last week were findings that suggested adults who practiced a combination of healthy lifestyle factors more than halved their risk for developing type 2 diabetes and a study that determined children exposed to gestational diabetes in utero who were exclusively breastfed were less likely to develop obesity if intake of sugar-sweetened beverages was also low.

A cohort of mostly Hispanic children exposed to gestational diabetes in utero who were exclusively breastfed were 44% less likely to develop obesity when compared with similar children who were not exclusively breastfed, but only intake of sugar-sweetened beverages was low, according to findings published in Pediatric Obesity.