The idea of removing morbidly obese children from their parents and putting them in foster homes is a highly emotional issue. When does overfeeding become child abuse? Is government intervention justified? We looked at some of the questions and answers …

In July, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a subscription-only article by Lindsey Murtagh, J.D., M.P.H., and David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D. It is understandable that a doctor and a lawyer have collaborated on a subject that …

The National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) describes itself this way: Our mission is to ensure that all children, youth, and families have access to high quality programs, activities, and opportunities during non-school hours. We believe that …

Barbara Ehrenreich has researched and written extensively about health issues. Nickel and Dimed in America, her book about the working class, commanded significant attention, and celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. In a Facebook comment, Ehrenre …

Kevin Richardson works in New York City as a personal trainer, and also puts a lot of thought into the obesity epidemic that encompasses children, adults, and even household pets. He says, A studious look at the economics of food production provides co …

For WAMU 88.5, a Washington, D.C., public radio station, journalist Kavitha Cardoza and producer Ginger Moored conducted interviews with obese children and their family members and doctors. This is typical subject matter for WAMU (licensed to American …

Even though it has a plural name, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is one big federal agency — a big federal agency with a sense of humor. Just a couple of months ago (May 2011), a Public Health Matters blog post written by Ali S. Khan w …

A while back, we mentioned that Dr. Pretlow’s latest paper was due to be published by Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention. The future has become the present, and the document is now online. (The print version of Volume 19 #4, July …

Last time, we looked at the aims of the STOP Obesity Alliance, starting with the encouragement of more physical activity on general principles, because of the overall superiority of fitness over unfitness. The Alliance is in favor of “different approac …

Housed at the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University, a group is looking for innovative and practical ways to end the obesity epidemic. Its purpose statement says, The Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesi …

Cars and clothes are two of the things most dear to the hearts of Americans. People actually believe such nonsense as “You are what you drive.” And “Clothes make the man (or woman).” So, imagine how unpleasant it must be to weigh 300 pounds in a societ …

As parents, we have endless opportunities every day to guide our kids, and it would be a shame not to pick up on at least a few of them. Coach Ed Poirier of Attleboro, Massachusetts, recently published a piece called “Letting free range kids do their t …

We are looking at the basic components of the controversy over taxing soda pop. Last time, we talked about why sugar-sweetened drinks, or SSDs, are particularly being singled out as childhood obesity villains, and how different jurisdictions have handl …

Every time the idea of a tax on soda pop is mentioned, the debate grows lively and centers around some basic issues: Why pick on soda? Will people stand for it? Will food corporations put up with it? Has a soda tax actually been shown to reduce childho …

In the Journal of Pediatrics, Brigid Huey begins by explaining this particular aspect of the childhood obesity puzzle: Experts agree that obesity prevention should begin before children enter school. But due to a lack of conclusive data, health care pr …

Kathleen Blanchard, a Registered Nurse and freelance health author, reports for EmaxHealth on a study compiled by the Cardiovascular Center at the University of Michigan, which says it is extremely rare to find a genetic basis for childhood obesity. Bl …

Does anything work to prevent childhood obesity? Once it has taken hold, can anything pull a child loose from its clutches? As many thousands of years as humans have been on earth, you’d think we would have figured this thing out by now. What kind of n …

Everybody wants to know: Is there anything that works to prevent childhood obesity? And if so, what is it? The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation wonders, too, and not only in a general, curious way. The Foundation has a specific goal, to reverse the growi …

Most anti-childhood obesity programs, whether they are prevention-oriented or cure-oriented, have one thing in common: they need money. Whether the source of funds is the government, a foundation, or an eccentric millionaire with a mattress full of lar …

Because of concern about childhood obesity, a bill was introduced in Virginia that would require elementary and middle schools to offer 150 minutes of physical education per week. In her story about it, Rosalind S. Helderman included an extensive list …

What can help end the childhood obesity epidemic? That question includes a lot of other sub-questions. Two of them are “What can prevent kids from growing overweight in the first place?” and “What can help kids who are already overweight?” So when we a …

(Part Two of a Two-Part Post — View Part One) The first part of this post had to do with the fact that the “healthy eating and exercise” approach for ending the childhood obesity epidemic just isn’t working. Compelling new evidence now points to actua …

I recently witnessed two teenagers in a group, one advising the other how to lose weight. The first teen glibly proclaimed, All you gotta do is eat healthy and exercise! Whereupon, the second teen indignantly retorted, That is sooo not it!!! I know wha …

This episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show aired a while back, but it’s a classic. Oprah invited some formerly obese teens, a couple of parents, and a couple of doctors — including Dr. Mehmet Oz, who hangs out in the audience contributing medical illumina …

We talked last time about the validation given by the recent Yale study, to the idea that food addiction is a reality for some people. Of course, the story was immediately picked up and expanded on by numerous other media, all with their own particular …

Well, better late than never! Dr. Robert A. Pretlow, numerous other medical professionals, and very many obese people (whose experiences were previously dismissed as “anecdotal evidence” and “non-validated data”) have been saying for years that food ad …

There are a lot of different opinions about how much responsibility the government should take for controlling obesity. When there is agreement that the government should do something, the easiest place to make an impact on large numbers of young and p …

Not long ago, in England, a local government made international news by considering whether to ban the word “obesity” from use in the literature and media presentations of its pro-health campaigns. It’s not clear whether anything ever officially happen …

In “Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation: White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President” (available online as a PDF file; link is ours), the section called Chemical Exposures starts on page 17. One of the c …

With a title like this, you have to read the story: “Childhood obesity almost ‘inevitable’, say experts” (link is ours). Which experts? Could this be? Must we resign ourselves to the prospect of the ever-enlarging children? Journalist Madeleine Brindle …