Often kids seem unable to figure out how to entertain themselves except through recreational eating.

The evidence on phthalates, the plasticizing agents found everywhere, is disturbing. The kids are surrounded by two major offenders, toys and food packaging.

The Domestic Policy Council wants to slice $193 billion from SNAP outlays over the next 10 years, and make the states pay for 25% of the remaining need.

Close to half of the U.K.’s young adults are said to be overweight. In the 16 to 24 age group, that’s a million more than the same demographic 20 years ago.

Dr. Fernando Fernandez-Aranda spoke at the WPA symposium on the traits shared by patients with obesity and eating disorders.

At the WPA symposium Dr. Avena talked about physiological similarities between drug and food addictions and looking at overeating through the lens of addiction.

Dr. Pretlow would like to see more psychiatrists and psychologists regard disordered overeating and the consequent obesity as a psychological problem.

Is obesity a psychological or physical issue? It’s time to take a hard look and think about where, among the confusing plethora of terminology, it might belong.

According to one meta study, the rate of childhood obesity has multiplied tenfold since 1975. It’s now pushing 20%.

How much of what we call motor activity, including eating as a tension-relieving BFRB, is a perverse response to touch deprivation?

Whether compulsive eating is a substance addiction or a behavioral addiction, the results are pretty much the same: obesity and assorted co-morbidities.

Some studies found quality of life of obese kids to be on a par with that of juvenile chemotherapy patients.

Since disordered overeating so often leads to obesity — why isn’t obesity considered a psychological problem — and an eating disorder?

Obesity bias begins early in childhood. There’s evidence that children as young as four and five respond differently to obese peers than normal-weight peers.

One of the problems with treating obesity is getting some medical professionals on board with compassion for the pain of obese patients and their challenges.

The primary care physician might steer parents toward good nutrition advice. As for the rest, let the obesity consultant do the heavy lifting.

A University of Liverpool study found that when people are aware of being overweight they’re more likely to gain weight. Is ignorance bliss?

Is there such a thing as too much awareness? One study showed that people who perceive themselves to be overweight are at greater risk for weight gain.

In New Jersey, nearly one child in four is overweight or obese. The local YMCA’s Healthy U program offers parents anti-obesity guidelines.

September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Let’s look at the childhood obesity prevention suggestions found at HealthFinder.gov.

Could it be that more obese people experience a higher quality of life because they come closer every day to being a part of the majority?

One of the big mysteries of obesity is whether the children and teenagers are happy or not, and how obesity affects their quality of life.

There are so many ways for obesity to negatively impact a young life, it seems unlikely that anyone could remain emotionally unaffected.

It is easy to see why kids don’t want to talk about their experience of being overweight or obese, because, really, who does?

April Herndon, a proponent of the “Health at Every Size” philosophy, lost 100 pounds and had to deal with some negative feedback and difficult consequences.

Studies show that Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor and contributes to the childhood obesity epidemic.

The state of Arkansas tried to implement mandatory BMI screenings in schools, which was met with objections from parents on privacy grounds.

Are Chinese kids obese? Are they miserable? Some recent studies looked at the consequences of China’s One Child Policy.

Studies show obesity and impaired emotional health can be mutually reciprocal in perpetuating each other, and the negative impact of obesity increases with age.

Does the quality of life decline because the child is overweight/obese, or do children become overweight/obese in reaction to lives that are already messed up?