Spanish-language television is bombarding children with so many fast-food commercials that it may be fueling the rising obesity epidemic among Latino youth, according to research led by pediatricians from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Shiriki Kumanyika, Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Dean for Health Promotion and Health Prevention and Virginia A. Stallings, Jean A. Cortner Endowed Chair in Pediatric Gastroenterology at Penn and Professor of Pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will be part of panel at special public session, Understanding Obesity and Childhood at the 2008 American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston.

Less sleep can increase a child’s risk of being overweight or obese, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their analysis of epidemiological studies found that with each additional hour of sleep, the risk of a child being overweight or obese dropped by 9 percent.

About nine percent of teenagers may have metabolic syndrome, a clustering of risk factors that put them on the path toward heart disease and diabetes in adulthood.

Residential weight loss program begins a new semester on East and West Coasts

The January 2008 special issue of The Annals, published by SAGE, explores the problem of obesity in the young, providing kids, their parents and caregivers a road map for a healthier lifestyle both for them and for future generations.

As the obesity epidemic grows in the U.S., doctors are discovering more and more far reaching health concerns for overweight children.

As the obesity epidemic grows in the U.S., doctors are discovering more and more far reaching health concerns for overweight children

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego; the Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego; the University of California, San Francisco; and the University of South Alabama determined that television viewing is not only linked to childhood obesity, but also to hypertension in children, according to a study published in the December 2007 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Just three months of daily, vigorous physical activity in overweight children improves their thinking and reduces their diabetes risk, researchers say.

Children who are obese or who are at risk for obesity show early signs of heart disease similar to obese adults with heart disease, a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found.

An education programme which successfully cut the level of obesity in children by teaching them about healthy eating and discouraging fizzy drinks was no longer effective three years after the intervention came to an end, according to a study published on bmj.com today.