Children's Health
Anemia Tougher to Tackle in Black Children with Kidney Disease
|
|
Black children with chronic kidney disease have more severe anemia than white children even when they receive the same treatment, according to a multicenter study led by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center to be published in the May issue of the American Journal of Kidney Disease.
The findings suggest that inherent biological differences, rather than access to care and treatment, may be at play, raising the question whether current guidelines for anemia treatment should be tailored to reflect race, investigators say.
Anemia, marked by abnormally low levels of red blood cells, is a key indicator of disease status. It is diagnosed by measuring levels of the protein hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in and out of red blood cells.
Clinical study supports benefit of breastfeeding support for obese women
|
|
Breastfeeding is best, but what happens when something goes wrong? And why do so many women struggle with this “natural” process even after carefully following all the well-meaning advice they’ve gotten from their health care providers? Not surprisingly, some women have more difficulty than others and there are many factors associated with experiencing breastfeeding problems – especially in the first week after birth. For example, being African-American, having less than a high school education, and being poor are all associated with suboptimal breastfeeding outcomes. Recent studies also consistently show that being overweight or obese increases the chance that a woman will suffer breastfeeding problems. With burgeoning rates of obesity and a continued public health effort to promote breastfeeding, researchers are scrambling to figure out why overweight women have trouble breastfeeding and what can be done to circumvent this predicament.
On April 25, two talks concerning the potential benefits of intensive breastfeeding support for obese women will be presented at the Experimental Biology 2010 meeting in Anaheim. These presentations are part of the scientific program of the American Society for Nutrition, the nation’s leading nutrition research society. Scientists from the University of Connecticut, Hartford’s Hispanic Health Council, the Hartford Hospital, and Yale University will speak. Their findings provide compelling evidence that peer counseling and support can substantially improve breastfeeding success among these at-risk ladies.
These studies, which were prompted by a sincere desire to “really understand whether obese women could be more successful at breastfeeding if they have help,” were spearheaded by Dr. Donna Chapman, Assistant Director of the Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos (CEHDL) in Hartford, CT and graduate student Katie Morel.
Pain free treatment of children and adolescents
|
|
Properly performed analgesia protects children from pain and traumatization. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107(14): 241-7), Christoph Neuhäuser and his colleagues show how analgesia for children and adolescents should be carried out.
Medical interventions can be very unpleasant. However, we know that they are necessary and that they will help us, so we grit our teeth until the grueling procedure has been got through. On the other hand, children are often incapable of grasping the situation in which they find themselves and the possible consequences. They tend to regard painful treatment as a threat and suffer enormous psychological stress.
Children’s special needs are all too often neglected in pain therapy. This can have dire consequences and traumatize the child. If properly used, analgesia and analgesic sedation can prevent this.
Childhood obesity: Healthy eating is key to combating weight
|
|
When Danielle Puckett was 4, her mother tried to put a lock on the refrigerator door.
“She just started going in the refrigerator and getting anything and everything,” said Danielle’s mother, Dawn Keller. It was then that she began to notice her daughter was becoming overweight. “She was drinking a lot of whole milk. We started cutting back on what we gave her.”
That didn’t really help, though — Danielle would just sneak the food she craved, and she put on weight steadily. She weighed 105 pounds by age 5, 150 pounds by age 10, and 250 pounds by age 15, her mother said.
Watching TV for Long Leads to Obesity in Children
|
|
A recent study conducted by the Sydney South West Area Health Service has claimed that youngsters, who watch television for more than 2 hours in a day, are 3.5 times more vulnerable to obesity than those youngsters who watch it less.
The researchers also discovered a connection between the way these children commute to their schools and their obesity. Dr Li Ming Wen, Research and Evaluation Manager, Dr Li Ming and his team examined the weight, height, screen time and modes of commuting to school in 1300 children falling in the age group of 10-13 years.
“Almost 35 per cent of children surveyed watched more than 14 hours of television a week”, said Dr. Wen.
Obesity in Children: What Fast Food Corporations are Doing to Cause It
|
|
Nobody can deny that fast food is unhealthy. Everyone knows that fast food is high in calories, fats, and sodium. But what causes obesity? When asked this, most people will say “fast food.” A diet high in calories and a lack of physical exercise are what cause a large percentage of the cases of obesity. Fast food explains the calories, but what about the sedentary lifestyle? Well, believe it or not, fast food can explain that as well. As it turns out, fast food corporations are a major cause of childhood obesity because they promote unhealthy foods and a sedentary lifestyle for children.
One striking factor of the fast food corporation’s link to child obesity is the abundance of fast food restaurants worldwide. “McDonald’s is the leading global foodservice retailer with more than 32,000 local restaurants serving more than 60 million people in 117 countries each day.” (“Our Company”) I even performed a search on the McDonald’s website to see how many McDonald’s restaurants there are in my area. According to the search there are at least 35 McDonald’s restaurants within a 13-mile radius of my house! This shows that there are a huge number of fast food restaurants in the world, especially since these numbers are for just one corporation. Adding on to the numerical evidence, fast food restaurants have increased 12.8% in the past 10 years (Entertaining Marketing Letter). This shows that fast food corporations are increasing the amount of restaurants they have in order to increase their profits. These numbers, although they may not look it, are in fact a big link to fast food corporations’ causing of obesity in children. The overwhelming presence of fast food restaurants means that children see the restaurants more often and that they are more likely to get their parents to stop there and eat. Also, when children are old enough, they can go to the restaurants with their friends. For example, my friends and I ride our bikes to a McDonald’s that is only about a two-minute ride from my house. If we don’t feel like having McDonald’s that day, there is a Burger King right next to it. All in all, the growing number of fast food restaurants does have an impact on childhood obesity.
Preventing childhood obesity from pregnancy on
|
|
While applauding the First Lady’s efforts to combat childhood obesity through the Let’s Move initiative, researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco say that the campaign’s efforts focused primarily on behavioral and nutritional intervention—in school or at home—will yield “limited success.” In an editorial published online this week by the New England Journal of Medicine Drs. Janet M. Wojcicki and Melvin B. Heyman argue that any attempts to have a more substantive effect on childhood obesity must start well before children reach school age. “Indeed, prevention must start as early as possible, since school-aged children already have an unacceptably high prevalence of obesity and associated medical conditions,” they write. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one third of U.S. children are overweight.
Wojcicki and Heyman are among a growing number of obesity researchers and health professionals advocating for childhood obesity prevention beginning in infancy, pregnancy, and even earlier. In November of last year, the Institute of Medicine formed a new committee to specifically address obesity risk factors and intervention efforts for children under age 5.
Childhood obesity program should start early, say experts
|
|
US First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign must include interventions that target pregnant women, infants, and pre-school-age children, and they should start as early as possible, say UCSF experts.
Janet Wojcicki, PhD, MPH, UCSF assistant professor of pediatrics, and Melvin Heyman, MD, MPH, professor of pediatrics and chief of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at UCSF Children’s Hospital, discuss how “Let’s Move” might have the greatest impact on reversing the childhood obesity epidemic in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Their piece will appear in the April 21, 2010, issue of the journal.
Kids differ from adults in travel-related ills
|
|
Children who travel the globe are susceptible to a number of infections and injuries, but they appear less likely than adults to have a pre-travel doctor visit, a new study finds.
In a study of more than 34,000 international travelers who sought medical care for travel-related ills, researchers found that children most often suffered bouts of diarrhea, skin injuries—most commonly animal bites or parasite-induced rashes—fevers and respiratory infections.
A number of those problems were more common among children compared with adult travelers, and children were also more likely than adults to be hospitalized for their conditions.
China says faulty vaccines not cause of children’s deaths
|
|
China’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday faulty vaccines were not to blame for the deaths of four children in northern Shanxi province, after a domestic newspaper pointed the finger of blame at substandard vaccinations.
China has been beset by a series of product safety scandals over the past few years. At least six children died in 2008 after drinking milk contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine.
In 2003 and 2005, three Chinese children suffered severe brain damage after being vaccinated against Japanese encephalitis. Their parents blamed a substandard vaccine, something the government denied.
Healthy, and Safe, School Lunches
|
|
It is probably too much to hope that the more than 30 million school lunches served every day will taste absolutely fabulous. But Congress should at least make certain that whatever lands on those cafeteria trays is nutritious and safe to eat. Every day it delays doing so is another mealtime when millions of students are cheated of programs that could help relieve hunger and reduce obesity.
A reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act is now before the Senate. The bill’s main sponsors, Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat, and Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, have written useful revisions and improvements. The measure deserves prompt approval. It is also time for the House to produce its own version. If Congress can act by late spring, next year’s school cafeteria crowd can be more confident that the food is healthier and safer to eat.
The Senate bill reauthorizes several antihunger programs for children, but its biggest impact would be felt in schools that offer free or cut-rate meals. The bill would give the Agriculture Department new powers to set nutritional standards for any food sold on school grounds, particularly junk foods that contribute to obesity. It would expand the use of local farm products, organic food and school gardens, and require the government to notify schools more quickly about tainted foods. It also provides the first real increase in funding in 40 years.
For kids, small soda taxes don’t make a big difference
|
|
Small scale increases in the cost of soda likely have little impact on childhood obesity, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs. Soda taxes have been proposed as a means for fighting obesity by several prominent health researchers, and some public health officials have sparked controversy by advocating for steep taxes on soft drinks to deter consumption.
Yet, while previous research has shown that increased cost of soda leads to decreased consumption - a 10% price increase corresponds with an 8% reduction - there has been little analysis of how increased cost actually influences weight, and no analysis of this impact on children, they argue. To remedy that, the team of researchers from the RAND Corporation, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Institute for Health Research and Policy used current data on state soda taxes and children’s weight to assess the influence of soda tariffs both on consumption and childhood obesity.
Using data from a national study of elementary school-aged children collected in spring 2004, researchers analyzed body mass index (BMI), total weekly consumption of sugary drinks, and consumption during school hours for more than 7,000 children. They then analyzed state soda taxes (taxes specific to carbonated, sweetened beverages), from the same time period.
Ronald McDonald targeted for contributing to childhood obesity
|
|
Just as lawmakers in Santa Clara County, Calif., are considering banning toys in kids’ quick-serve meals, a consumer watchdog organization is calling for McDonald’s to retire Ronald McDonald as its kids-marketing-oriented mascot. Corporate Accountability International has released a new report and national poll that finds that even though most Americans have a a positive impression of the iconic mascot, close to half think it’s time the company stop using him to target children.
The findings come amid growing concern over the QSR industry’s primary role in rise of childhood obesity and diet-related disease. The report, “Clowning With Kids’ Health,” analyzes how Ronald McDonald and other children’s marketing are at the heart of current trends.
The new poll was conducted by Lake Research Partners for Corporate Accountability International. Its findings include:
Childhood Cancer Patients Enrolled in Clinical Trials Need Clearer Communication About Their Role in Research
|
|
A small study of children with cancer enrolled in therapeutic clinical research trials shows that they don’t fully understand what physicians and parents tell them about their participation, nor do they feel they are genuinely involved in the choice to take part.
The study, led by Yoram Unguru, M.D., an associate faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, will be published online March 29 in the journal Pediatrics.
While an estimated 70 percent of young cancer patients participate in clinical trials during their treatment, more than half of the 37 children who were interviewed for the study did not know or recall that their treatment was considered experimental or part of research, the investigators report.
Childhood obesity a growing problem
|
|
Here’s something to ponder over your breakfast: Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Obesity among children 6 to 11 years old increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008 — that’s one in five children. The prevalence of obesity among kids 12 to 19 increased from 5 percent to 18.1 percent — again, almost one in five.
Children are eating too much, choosing the wrong things to eat and not exercising enough. They are living sedentary lives, preferring a BlackBerry or Wii to a playground or outdoor activity.
Obese children are more likely to have risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. They are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as poor self-esteem. And here’s the scary part: Obese children are more likely to become overweight or obese adults, and therefore more at risk for adult health problems.
