Children with Down syndrome are more likely than their unaffected siblings to have higher levels of a hormone associated with obesity, according to pediatric researchers. The hormone, leptin, may contribute to the known higher risk of obesity among children and adults with Down syndrome.

An Australian study has found that children are more likely to be obese if they are from low-income families, and the risk is increased further if they are from particular racial background.

Children who lost weight were able to keep it off more effectively by participating in maintenance treatment programs that emphasized behavioral skills or social facilitation, although the effectiveness lessened over time, according to a study in the October 10 issue of JAMA.

The researches reported that heavy children who had lost weight had kept the kilos off better through weight maintenance follow-up, but even that hadn’t been terribly successful over two years.

Programmes aimed at increasing physical activity in adolescents need to cover both school and family or community life if they are to be effective, according to a study published today on www.bmj.com.

Risk factors for obesity in 7-year-old European children: the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative Study

A new study has found parents are overly worried and anxious about their children being underweight. Researchers from the University of Sydney's Centre for Overweight and Obesity conducted interviews with the parents of two to five-year-olds, who expressed fears of being criticised by others if their child was thin or a fussy eater.

After summer holidays, ‘miracle-diet’ adherents stick to these diets to lose the weight gained in the last months in record time. Gyms also become overcrowded with people making a final sprint of sacrifice whose results do not exactly match previous expectations and with few benefits for health. “

According to new sudy raising children on diet foods and drinks could inadvertently turn them into obese adults. Research from the University of Alberta said that children's bodies learn to connect the taste of different foods and drinks with whether they are high or low in calories, and if they only have diet food and drink this connection becomes distorted leading them to overeat as they develop into adults.

Overweight children are stigmatized by their peers as early as age 3 and even face bias from their parents and teachers, giving them a quality of life comparable to people with cancer, a new analysis concludes.

A study of 40 overweight children in Edmonton has revealed they all share something in common aside from being heavy: each one of them has high levels of apoB48, a structural protein found in intestinal cholesterol.

Research to date has been inconclusive on whether drinking sugar-sweetened beverages between meals increases children's risk of becoming overweight. Researchers at the University of Ottawa Institute of Population Health say sugar-sweetened drinks can have a negative effect on pre-school children.