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 …

As posts flow by on the Facebook stream, there are occasional pictures of food — and if you pick the right crowd, you don’t see too many of them. If someone invents a new dish, or a charming presentation, or makes an unusual combination, sure, fine, s …

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 …

Not long ago, Childhood Obesity News looked at the strange career of singer Beyoncé, which includes a spell as the television face of PepsiCo in the early 2000s, followed by “Move Your Body” and other contributions to Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campa …

Okay, we have learned that exercise may or may not affect obesity. When a child’s tonsils are surgically removed it may or may not increase the likelihood of obesity. School and community programs designed to alleviate obesity may or may not backfire. …

Just imagine: 1.3 billion tons is a lot of food, and that amount goes to waste around the world in a year. Not only is there no place to put so much garbage, but, come to think of it, it shouldn’t even be garbage. Here are the words of a company that i …

Because so many of the indicators and risk factors of childhood obesity overlap with matters of ethnicity and poverty (which is disproportionately linked to ethnicity), it is not surprising that civil rights organizations have taken an interest in chil …

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) takes an interest in childhood obesity, as it does in any societal problem that affects its members and constituents, and indeed that affects any minority groups. Its webpage says: …

One of the problems with the whole sugar debate is the amazing amount of time, energy, and money that has been spent and will continue to be spent to answer such questions as, “Which is worse, traditional cane and beet sugar, or high fructose corn syru …

Recently, Childhood Obesity News discussed the rules made by airlines to accommodate obese passengers (or not). The rules are not uniform, and about all they agree on is the politically correct term, “passenger of size.” In exactly what way is an obese …

Last month, A. Pawlowski reported for NBC News on the unfortunate death of Vilma Soltesz in Hungary, where she and her husband were visiting relatives. Starting from their home in New York, they had flown overseas via KLM Airlines, which accommodated M …

Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News began tracing the history of the singer Beyoncé as it relates to the issue of childhood obesity. Beyoncé, whose weight seems to fluctuate as much as that of her fellow celebrity Oprah Winfrey, was recruited by First La …

The EarlyBird Diabetes Study has been going on for 12 years, keeping an eye on the same cohort of healthy kids, and it intends to continue until they are 16 years old. They are looking mainly at the causes and effects of insulin resistance. The website …

It’s National Diabetes Month, 2012. In the effort to solve diabetes and childhood obesity, why do we look at research based on data collected in 2005 and even farther back in time? Because to a certain extent, that’s how it is in any kind of study. It …

When generalized statements are made about diabetes, it pretty much means Type 2, because 9/10ths (maybe more) of the patients are afflicted by Type 2. A recently released study by the Centers for Disease Control found that in some American cities, dia …

In the realm of childhood obesity research, one of the big perplexing mysteries is the relationship between childhood obesity and diabetes. What exactly is going on there? How do cause and effect apply? Is it a vicious cycle? Take the United States. “D …

It took two years and the combined efforts of four government agencies, pulled together into an uber-organization called the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children, to come up with guidelines on marketing the foods laden with salt, fat, …

Back in 2009, four federal agencies (Centers for Disease Control, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Agriculture, and Food and Drug Administration) got together as the Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children. When, two years later, …

Whether or not she serves a second term, Michelle Obama must be acknowledged as one of the most dynamic First Ladies ever. Attention has been focused on the childhood obesity epidemic, along with a great expenditure of money and energy. About whether a …

Created by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day is meant to unite Americans behind the idea of healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Its promoters point out that, every year, several hundred thousand people die too soon, as a re …

Childhood Obesity News has been thinking about gardens, from the angles that figure in the effort against childhood obesity. A garden can help in a more circuitous way, by morphing the family budget into something much more reasonable than before. When …

Not long ago, Childhood Obesity News considered the White House Garden cultivated by Michelle Obama, and her book about it, and the First Lady’s encouragement of vegetable gardens in general. Since then, we located some words from Andrea King Collier, …

For good or ill, California is often the first state to lead the way in fashion, cultural change, and legislation. Often, for good or ill, the rest of the country follows California’s lead. Indeed, Michael Pollan describes stirrings of discontent that …

Along with all the attention that has been paid to childhood obesity, adult obesity has come in for plenty of notice, even in the political realm. This threat never materialized, but about a year ago it seemed possible that a rather overweight fellow m …

A while back, Childhood Obesity News looked at various things the government does to fight childhood obesity. Not surprisingly, many of these measures have to do with food — its availability, quality, quantity, cost, and many other aspects. It’s worth …

Almost everyone agrees that home-cooked meals are the best, and fresh food is the best. With home cooking, you don’t get the additives and chemicals that some research shows to have strange effects on the childhood obesity equation, turning it from a s …

Last time, Childhood Obesity News looked at some of the difficulties faced by Chicago schools in trying to practice garden-based education and to bring the results to school lunch tables. In contrast, Denver public schools follow a different set of gui …