Last time, Childhood Obesity News recalled an article from a few years back, full of warnings about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It wasn’t the only such piece to be found, not by a long shot. But it made the interesting suggestion that HFCS is the …

Is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) the devil’s candy? Many people believe the answer is yes, and the main reasons are mentioned in the unsigned article where Childhood Obesity News first encountered that ominous nickname. First of all, HFCS is found in …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking at the parallels between humans and animals in an area called displacement behavior, which in humans can also be called adjunctive behavior or body-focused repetitive behavior. When feeling boxed in, conflicted, …

What is this thing called displacement behavior, anyway? University of Colorado professor Michael D. Breed says: Research on animal welfare has used displacement behavior as a measure of anxiety induced by captivity or other manipulations… Displaceme …

Last August, Traci Carneal reported of the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing on the popularity of salty snacks. The numbers were from the previous year, 2011, during which $4.4 billion worth of salty snacks were sold. We’re talking about …

In the late 1980s, the great American crack epidemic was gathering momentum. Reports that fetuses were inevitably damaged by the maternal cocaine use were taken seriously. Years went by and sober research was done, and the whole crack baby threat later …

From Texas A&M University come tidings of new experiments aimed at getting school kids and office workers up off their posteriors. But why? Reporter Nicole Morten has the answers. Standing up to work strengthens the spine, burns 20% more calories, …

A lot of dirty words have only four letters, but this one has nine, and Childhood Obesity News has been looking at why so many medical professionals think “sedentary” is a dangerous word that signifies frightening futures. For instance, Gretchen Reynol …

Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News mentioned the decreased life expectancy of TV addicts, office workers, and other sedentary people. “Sedentary” is, of course, the dirty nine-letter word referred to in our title, and the habit or necessity of long-term …

Though it has more than four letters, “sedentary” is a dirty word in the anti-obesity business. Sure, workers who have to stand up all day suffer from discomfort and physical consequences. But according to an ever-increasing number of authorities, sitt …

Almost a year ago, a concoction known as Belviq received approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the first prescription diet drug to have done so in the previous 13 years. Alice Park wrote “Belviq: 5 Things You Need to Know About the New Weight …

Last time, Childhood Obesity News considered deep brain stimulation, or DBS. Now, we revisit the brain to look at other research where mice took center stage, concerning a change on the cellular level that “accompanies obesity.” ScienceDaily says: The …

Burger Addiction is a new restaurant chain starting up in Australia. Some highlights from online reviews: A woman who went on opening day waited half an hour, from order to first bite, and was disappointed by the meal. The burgers come with all sorts o …

Did you know that YouTube offers over 12,000 items under the heading of “Food Porn”? It comes right through the computer screen, and a person can stare at food porn all day long without being ostracized by the community. The consumption of food porn ha …

Before returning to the fascinating subject of food porn, excuse us for a moment while we pat ourselves on the back for being astute spotters of talent and relevance. Yes, Childhood Obesity News covered ChopChop way before it was chosen “Publication of …

We saw how fathers can genetically influence the weight of their children, or at least the weight of their daughters, as shown by an Australian study. Medical Xpress recently wrote about the work being done at University College London with genome-wide …

There are studies showing that poverty correlates with childhood obesity. For instance, in 2010 Harvard Medical School issued study results that showed: […] black and Hispanic children were more likely than white children to have gained weight rapidl …

Last time, Childhood Obesity News considered a study that showed the stress of poverty leading to depressed mothers and overfed, obese infants. Now, what about the effect of financial rewards on adults? The Mayo Clinic did a study that included 100 emp …

Last time, Childhood Obesity News looked at a study from the University of Leipzig showing that lower socioeconomic status is linked to overweight — more so than the lack of physical activity. Dr. Candice Taylor Lucas, of the New York University Schoo …

One of the problems with early intervention in childhood obesity is that any program a school, day care center, or wellness center might implement, is likely to meet with objections from someone who wants to throw a monkey wrench into it for a pragmati …

“Early intervention” seems to be one of those abstract concepts, like world peace, that everyone is theoretically in favor of, but nobody seems to quite know how to achieve. Early intervention involves a vast territory. It impinges on the areas of medi …

When the Institute of Medicine issued the report, “Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies,” Dr. Wendy Slusser of the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital said something interesting. As trusted adults who share responsibility for noticing a child’s risk …

Over the past couple of years, many health care professionals studying childhood obesity have arrived at “early intervention” as their takeaway. According to the statistics, each year farther back toward birth that treatment begins, the odds improve. I …

Early intervention to avoid childhood obesity is a hot topic. The reason is obvious, and expressed by the old proverb, “A stitch in time saves nine.” In other words, if the edge of your pocket is starting to tear, sew it up, because once that little te …

Recently, reports appeared of a new study of childhood obesity, which is described as: […] the first comprehensive national profile of associations between weight status and a broad set of associated health conditions, or co-morbidities, that kids su …

Childhood Obesity News has mentioned various aspects of the EarlyBird Study and one of the most important is the fact that dietary habits are established very early in a child’s life. Once established, they tend to be retained. If children’s habits cha …

This new webinar is called “The Epidemic of Childhood Obesity: What’s Our Plan?” and although Dr. Pretlow designed it for health care professionals, it’s probably safe to say that most parents feel they are included in that group — they have certainly …

Yesterday we looked at “catfishing,” which basically is going online and fooling another person into believing you’re someone you are not. Often, when people fall in virtual love, it turns out that one of them is up in the plus sizes, and hiding behind …

Although catfishing has existed as long as the Internet, the actual name by which the cultural phenomenon will forever be known was not decided until 2010. This happened thanks to an indie documentary film made by Henry Joost, Ariel (Rel) Schulman, and …

In her book, Constant Craving, Doreen Virtue discussed in great detail the differences between physical hunger and emotional hunger. Why is this important? Because emotional neediness is one of the things that can lead a child or adult to food addictio …