Unhealthy options and pressures influence nearly every part of children's daily lives, according to studies released this week in a special supplement of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.

Christina Economos, PhD, principal investigator of Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart. Play Hard, a large-scale community intervention to curb childhood obesity, will present her research at the second annual Friedman School Symposium at Tufts, October 29th to 31st in Boston.

Less than 3 per cent of UK 11 year olds are taking enough exercise, suggests research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

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

Soft drink consumption has increased in both the USA and the UK over the years and this has often been blamed for a rise in childhood body maoss index (BMI). However, many of the review methodologies investigating the alleged links have been flawed.

Treating diabetes during pregnancy can break the link between gestational diabetes and childhood obesity, according to a Kaiser Permanente study featured in the September issue of Diabetes Care.

North Carolina’s adolescents are the 5th most overweight in the nation, according to the fourth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America report released today at the U.S. Southern Obesity Conference in Little Rock, Ark.

Summer is winding down and school doors are beginning to open again. It's time to think about ways to keep kids physically active throughout the upcoming year.

Experts are struggling to find ways to contain the growing number of children who are becoming obese. One useful approach might be to encourage them to choose low glycaemic index (GI) foods. However, until now there has been little evidence that this approach will work for children in the long term.

Parents should think twice before offering a low-fat menu to youngsters, despite concerns over obesity. Children burn more body fat than adults for each calorie spent, according to research in the online open access publication, Nutrition Journal, evidence that fat can be included as part of a child’s healthy and balanced diet.

In the first study of how weight may affect school attendance, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University have found that overweight children are at greater risk of school absenteeism than their normal-weight peers.

Diet foods and drinks for children may inadvertently lead to overeating and obesity, says a new report from the University of Alberta.