WHO calls for junk food ban in schools, playgrounds

Junk food should not be sold in schools and playgrounds, the World Health Organisation said Friday in a series of recommendations aimed at promoting a healthy diet and cutting child obesity.
However it fell short of calling for a ban on advertising directed at children for foods high in saturated fats, sugars or salt, opting instead to ask member states to "consider the most effective approach to reduce" such marketing.
The non-binding recommendations will be put to a high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases during September's General Assembly in New York, WHO officials said.
"Settings where children gather should be free from all forms of marketing of foods high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars or salt," said the UN health agency.
"Such settings include, but are not limited to, nurseries, schools, school grounds and pre-school centres, playgrounds, family and child clinics and paediatric services and during any sporting and cultural activities that are held on these premises," it added .
Some 43 million pre-school children are obese or overweight, according to WHO data.
"Children throughout the world are exposed to marketing of foods high in fat, sugar or salt, which increases the potential of younger generations developing noncommunicable diseases during their lives," it said.
Six out of ten deaths every year are due to cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases, the WHO warned, pointing out that a common factor of the four main diseases is poor diet.

Source: Google news. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jfzUeW7BjDuqLjipN5Meuy969_Ew?docId=CNG.8c7c2d37b80a7efbfd66908fa452bb99.2f1

Kids who get recommended sleep least likely to be obese

Scientists at the University of Chicago and the University of Louisville compared the sleep patterns of 308 children, ages 4-10, with their body mass index, a number that considers height and weight. The children wore special wrist-band devices for a week to track the amount they slept.

Some of the kids had blood work done to look at their glucose, insulin, triglycerides and cholesterol levels, which are markers for the risk of type 2 diabetes and future cardiovascular disease.

The study, out online today in Pediatrics, shows:

•Kids slept an average of eight hours a night. This is far less than the nine or more hours recommended for this age group.

•Kids who slept at least 9½ to 10 hours were the least likely to be obese or to have unhealthy blood work.

•The children who slept the least and had the most irregular sleep schedule (they didn't go to bed at a set time) had a substantially greater risk of being obese and having unhealthy blood work.

•Those who got caught up on sleep on the weekends somewhat reduced their risk of being obese or having unhealthy blood work.

•Obese children were less likely to get caught up on their sleep on the weekends.

"Good sleep routines and sleeping the right amount is the best healthy proposition," says lead author David Gozal, chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Chicago.

Previous research shows that not getting enough sleep may contribute to weight gain partly because it affects hormones that control hunger and feeling full.

Source: USA today. http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20110124/sleepandweight24_st.art.htm

Obese adolescents and the risk of breast cancer

According to a recent review, adolescent girls and in high risk of developing breast cancer.

Breast cancer, the second most common cause of cancer death in women, is strongly associated with obesity; this relationship is particularly true in postmenopausal breast cancer. There are many factors that many explain the relationship between adiposity and breast cancer. Obesity is related to elevated levels of insulin and leptin, and lower levels of adiponectin. Hyperinsulinemia may impact and affect tumorigenesis. Peripheral aromatization of androgens in adipose tissue is enhanced by leptin, leading to greater estrogen levels.Adipocytokines may participate as cancer promoters and regulators, and participate in regulation of sex steroids by interleukins 4 and 6 (Il-4, Il-6). Increased serum levels of leptin and resistin, and decreased levels of adiponectin, were related to tumor metastasis.

From: In-Iw and Biro. Adolescent Women and Obesity. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology

How to Fix the Obesity Crisis

Why are extra pounds so difficult to shed and keep off? It doesn’t seem as though it should be so hard. The basic formula for weight loss is simple and widely known: consume fewer calories than you expend. And yet if it really were easy, obesity would not be the nation’s number-one lifestyle-related health concern. For a species that evolved to consume energy-dense foods in an environment where famine was a constant threat, losing weight and staying trimmer in a modern world of plenty fueled by marketing messages and cheap empty calories is, in fact, terrifically difficult. Almost everybody who tries to diet seems to fail in the long run—a review in 2007 by the American Psychological Association of 31 diet studies found that as many as two thirds of dieters end up two years later weighing more than they did before their diet.

From:Scientific American Magazine, February 2011

Prohibition: The Wrong Way to Improve Child Nutrition - The Atlantic

Prohibition: The Wrong Way to Improve Child Nutrition - The Atlantic