Obesity in girls tied to higher MS risk

Picture of an Obese Teenager (146kg/322lb) with Central Obesity, side view.Self Made Picture of an Obese Teenager (Myself) (146kg/322lb) with Central Obesity, Front View. Feel Free to use. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research suggests that obese kids - adolescent girls, in particular - are more likely to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) than normal-weight youth.

That doesn't prove carrying around some extra weight in childhood causes MS - in which the protective coating around nerve fibers breaks down, slowing signals traveling between the brain and body.

Kids With Down Syndrome Twice as Likely to be Heavy

Last Updated: 2012-11-14 15:10:14 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Kerry Grens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More than one in four children with Down syndrome in The Netherlands is overweight, a rate double that of Dutch youth without the developmental disability, according to a new study.

"We were alarmed by the high prevalence of overweight in children with Down syndrome," said Dr. Helma van Gameren-Oosterom, the lead author of the study from the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research in Leiden.

Slimmer Future for Heavy Kids Who Get Help Early

Last Updated: 2012-10-29 16:00:59 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Frederik Joelving

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Weight-loss programs can help even very young children slim down, and it appears that acting early may improve the odds of success, according to a pair of new studies.

"What they are showing is a pretty consistent trend that if we were to intervene early, we could really have an effect on changing the trajectory of weight gain in children," said Dr. Elsie Taveras, a pediatrician at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, who co-wrote an editorial on the findings.

Spending on Food Advertising to Kids Fell in '09

The Apex Building, headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission, on Constitution Avenue and 17th Streets in Washington, D.C.. The building was designed by Edward H. Bennett under the purview of Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon, and was completed in 1938 at a cost of $125 million. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last Updated: 2012-12-21 15:25:13 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Food companies spent considerably less to advertise to children in 2009 than they did in 2006 as they shifted to the Internet, and products pitched to kids got slightly healthier, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a report on Friday.

Cereal makers, fast food restaurants and other food companies spent $1.79 billion to advertise to children aged 2 to 17 in 2009, down almost 20 percent, on an inflation-adjusted basis, from $2.1 billion three years earlier, the FTC said.