These findings suggest we may someday be able to use a simple blood test to identify those at risk for obesity,” said Mark Friedman, a behavioral physiologist at Monell. “The ability to identify more susceptible individuals would make it possible to target obesity-prevention resources on those who need them most.”
Educating parents on healthy lifestyle may help get their overweight children off the couch and moving more. UK researchers found benefits for both children and their parents. The children, who were all overweight or obese at the study’s start, became less sedentary and managed to lose some weight. Their parents, meanwhile, reported improvements in their relationships with their children, and in their own mental well-being.
Adults consuming the most, versus the least, energy-dense diets had a 60 percent higher risk for type 2 diabetes in a new study conducted in the United Kingdom.
Elementary school students will eat more whole grains when healthier bread products are gradually introduced into their school lunches, a new University of Minnesota study shows.
The US school fruit program has expanded to include all 50 states and will provide nearly $49 million this school year to help educators boost students’ consumption of fresh produce.
Active transport is strongly associated with the use of multiple recreation sites by children and adolescents, even when accounting for proximity and demographic factors. Adolescents living in neighborhoods with better traffic safety walked/biked to more recreation sites for physical activity. Findings support the need for built environments and transportation policies that facilitate safe, active transport to recreation sites for youth physical activity.
Based on data from 32,269 women the US researchers found that breast cancer risk reduction appeared to be limited to vigorous forms of activity; it was apparent among normal weight women but not overweight women.
156 Californian adult vomen got access to a tailored website and weekly emails or wait-list control group. Participants completed web-based assessments of physical activity, stage of behavior change, and psychosocial variables at baseline, one month, two months, and three months. Walking increased 69 min per week and total moderate-to-vigorous physical activity 23 min per week.
Based on 187 studies this review suggest that the measurement method may have a significant impact on the observed levels of physical activity. Self-report measures of physical activity both over and underestimated directly measured levels of physical activity, which poses a problem for both reliance on self-report measures.
In this 22 year longitudinal study researchers from Canada seek to identify long term patterns of involvement in leisure time physical activity, and explore socioeconomic and demographic predictors of physical activity. The results are based on data from 2102 individuals aged 18-60 years in 1981 who also completed a follow-up questionnaire in 2002/04. The researchers conclude that there is a need for continued efforts to increase overall population levels of long term physical activity, particularly among socially disadvantaged groups with respect to income and education.