Aug

15

(Childhood Obesity News) In summer, obesity rules - Boston Globe

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Without the constancy of school and, even, the bland predictability of school lunches, summer looms as three months of unending temptation, fueled by advertising promoting sugar-laden snacks. Weight specialists at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, one of the nation’s top pediatric medical centers, said they are seeing evidence that skyrocketing food prices and concerns about the safety of fruits and vegetables have made it harder to serve children healthy meals. They found that during the summer between kindergarten and first grade, the youngsters’ body mass index increased twice as fast as during the school year. The rise, reported last year in the American Journal of Public Health, was especially steep for African-American and Hispanic children, as well as those already overweight at the start of kindergarten. The lazy months of summer can also reverse progress achieved during the school year, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin. Their report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine last year found that when overweight middle-schoolers went on summer vacation, advances made during the school year in cardiovascular fitness, insulin levels, and body composition were negated, stolen apparently by summer’s lack of discipline, specialists said. Read Childhood Obesity

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