skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Fighting Childhood Obesity Begins With Toddlers

play audio
Play

Tuesday, May 31, 2011   

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It's never too early to start teaching children about a healthy lifestyle, because it can make a difference in fighting childhood obesity. That's according to a new study by researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine. They found that obese children ages 2 to 5 responded nearly seven times more favorably than older children did, after all of them completed six months in the same obesity program.

Physician Meredith Dreyer directs an intervention program called Zoom to Health at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. She is not surprised by the findings.

"We're starting to see evidence that intervening in the younger ages is resulting in the most substantial changes. It's a lot easier for parents to make changes without having quite as much fuss as when they're trying to work with teenagers, for example."

Dreyer says simply changing a child's behavior is not enough.

"Parents have the perception that, 'Oh they're just kind of chubby toddlers, and they'll grow out of it.' But research has certainly shown that kids don't grow out of it. Your risk of obesity at 12 is high, if you're obese at age 2."

Zoom to Health works with parents of children ages 2 to 8, offering education about healthy eating, physical activity, parenting and problem solving.

The full study is available at
http://communications.medicine.iu.edu
.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021