American Cancer Society started a new series of video podcasts to encurrage PA and healthy eating. Find them on youtube. A new three- to five-minute episode will be available on the second Monday of each month.
Powerful choices
Dec 18
A 2-y intervention targeting increased physical activity and healthy eating in primary school children in New Zealand was followed up after 2 years. Despite the main intervention initiative being discontinued at the end of the intervention, continued benefits to BMI remained apparent in intervention children approximately 2 y later.
80 overweight adults attended a nutritional counseling program during 6 months of follow-up at a primary health care center in Brazil. The increase of 100 g/d of vegetables and fruits represented a body weight loss of 500 and 300 g after 6 months, respectively. The findings support the relevance of increased intakes of fruits and vegetables that may help avoid weight gain in overweight adults.
A 26-item FV (12 fruit and 14 vegetable) food frequency questionnaire was answered by 1255 low-income adults, with ages from 18 to 24. After a stage-tailored intervention the total intake of fruits rose to 2.73 from 2.33 cups/d and vegetables rose to 1.87 from 1.62 cups/d. Also a significantly greater variety in number of fruit items was found 9.5 vs 9.1 before intervention; and for vegetable items over the past year reached 11.5 vs 11.2 before.
General Mills researchers looked at data from 2379 girls age 9 to 10. They compared cereal breakfast eaters vs noncereal breakfast eaters. eating cereal for breakfast appeared to facilitate milk consumption (leading to increased calcium intake) and to displace fats/sweets, quick breads, soda, and meat/eggs as breakfast foods. Eating cereal at breakfast was associated with increased consumption of fiber and carbohydrates and decreased consumption of fats throughout the day. Also greater physical activity was also associated with cereal breakfast. In conclusion, cereal consumption as part of a healthy lifestyle may play a role in maintaining adequate nutrient intake and physical activity among girls.
Obesity is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Data from 100 children in Baltimore, Maryland. The mean age of our population was 11.8 years and 56% were overweight (body mass index>85 percentile). Most (96%) knew how to ride a bike and 80% reported owning a bike. Children who rode a bike just once a week or less were the most likely to be overweight. This association was stronger than for all other dietary and activity practices. Riding a bicycle at least 2 or more days during the week is associated with a decreased likelihood of being overweight during childhood.
Mothers of 613 boys and 590 girls in Boston reported the number of hours her child watched TV. Mean TV viewing was 1.7 hours per day. For each 1-hour increment of TV viewing per day, rsearchers found higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages (0.06 servings/day, fast food (0.32 servings/month), red and processed meat (0.06 servings/day), and total energy intake (48.7 kcal/day). Also lower intakes of fruit and vegetables (-0.18 servings/day), and dietary fiber (-0.44 g/day). CONCLUSIONS: Among 3-year-olds, more TV viewing is associated with adverse dietary practices. Interventions to reduce TV viewing in this age group may lead to improved diet quality.
University of Illinois receives $16 million US$ to study impact of environment on kids’ health
Dec 16
The ImpacTeen project got the grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study policy and environmental factors that influence youth behaviors related to nutrition, physical activity, obesity and tobacco use. In some communities, researchers will look at what opportunities are available to kids for physical activity — such as walking/biking paths, bike racks, parks, sidewalks, recreation facilities and dance studios — and what characteristics of the built environment may promote or serve as barriers to activity among kids. The availability — or lack of availability — of healthy food options in communities will also be identified. Policy makers at all levels — at the federal level, state level, local level, in schools and other organizations — will be involved in this effort.
People with type 2 diabetes who ate what is known as a low-glycemic-index diet for six months had greater blood sugar control and fewer heart disease risk factors than those who followed another eating plan.
The American diet is high in calories, but low in nutrients. To help consumers obtain more nutrition from the calories they consume, research is underway to develop a nutrient profiling approach that can be used to evaluate individual foods and help people build healthful diets.