If your Mom had read the headline above, do you think she would've let you eat that second or third hamburger lovingly appointed with heaps of lard-soaked French fries back in the day? Don't think so...

Having been overweight for most of my entire life, this Swedish study about the long-term effects of obesity for kids beyond childhood -- one of an alarming handful that have hit the media recently -- really hit home with me.

After studying the health of nearly 5,000 American Indian children over some 40 years for links, researchers learned adults who had been obese kids with the highest body mass index more than doubled their risk of premature death before their 55th birthday. In addition to obesity, high blood sugar levels elevated a patient's early mortality risks by an alarming 73 percent.

Don't be too quick to dismiss these numbers as unique either, because, scientists say, previous studies of American Indian patients tend to predict the future health of Americans accurately by 10-20 years.

Just a reminder, obesity also contributes in a major way to cancer, at a rate of 100,000 new cases every year.

New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 362, No. 6, pp. 485-493, February 11, 2010 Free Full Text Study

BusinessWeek February 10, 2010

New York Times February 10, 2010

Among the more prominent effects of Title IX -- a law passed by Congress nearly 40 years ago that ensures boys and girls receive equal treatment in all educational programs that receive federal funding -- was the way it revolutionized athletic programs for young American women.

Despite considerable progress on some fronts, when it comes to the health of female athletes, unfortunately, those glass ceilings remain intact, says Dr. Vicki Harber, a Canadian exercise physiologist who has developed The Female Athlete Perspective, a guide for parents, athletic administrators and coaches that addresses medical issues that affect the participation of women in sports.

To that end, Harber discovered female athletes often experience far greater rates of specific musculoskeletal injuries -- knee and shoulder issues plus an increased risk of re-injury -- and medical conditions -- osteoporosis, eating disorders and amenorrhea -- than do their male counterparts.

The difference in the number of injuries between young men and women can be as great as sixfold, according to the report, because countless training programs for female athletes are based on research using young adult males which doesn't take the biological differences between the sexes into account.

And that may largely explain why my injury-prone daughter never progressed as a competitive swimmer much beyond her middle school years too...

EurekAlert January 25, 2010 Free Full PDF Report

Lots of research has documented the deleterious effect a lack of sleep can have on the health of adults, specifically raising their risks of diabetes. Less sleep each night -- eight hours or less -- may also harm your kids, elevating their blood sugar and, eventually, raising their risk of diabetes.

Chinese scientists discovered the sleepy link to adult diabetes while observing the health of more than 600 obese children (ages 3-6), then comparing them to an equal number of kids who maintained a healthy weight and had no blood sugar issues. Overall, 47 percent of the obese kids monitored spent less time in the sack (eight hours or less per night), compared to non-obese patients (37 percent).

As a result, obese children who slept fewer hours were more than twice as likely to experience higher blood sugar levels. The lack of sleep, however, also harmed the health of the non-obese as well, elevating their blood sugar by a factor of 1.35. Possibly, the most telling statistic: Of the nearly 300 obese children who got less than eight hours of sleep each night, 49 patients experienced high blood sugar problems, more than double the number of overweight kids with elevated blood sugar who slept nine or 10 hours a night.

All the more reason to review our recent feature on improving your sleep habits and your child's.

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Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Vol. 164, No. 1, pp. 46-52, January 2010

Reuters.com January 11, 2010

Just as supplements have been plagued with inconsistent quality and toxic substances, so have cosmetics and jewelry marketed for kids that have been contaminated with lead, according to studies conducted in Ireland and Canada.

In one set of tests, Irish researchers detected lead levels in children's cosmetics purchased in discount stores exceeded recommended safe limits by a factor of 500, and more testing discovered lead concentrations as high as 10,000 mg in some cosmetics.

If that doesn't worry you enough, the news is even worse in Canada, as more than half of the children's jewelry tested by Health Canada's product safety laboratory last year (39 out of 67 pieces) was made of pure lead. Amazingly, 20 pieces contained levels of lead ranging from 80-95 percent, comparable to amounts found in common car batteries.

Although the CDC appears to be keeping close tabs on toxic amounts of lead found in children's jewelry, the same can't necessarily be said for lipsticks. Although a recent FDA study found lead in 20 brands of red lipstick produced by 10 different manufacturers at levels four times greater than those reported in independent tests, the agency hasn't released the list of products tested to the public, nor has it developed any safety standard governing lead levels in lipstick.

If you've been looking for a less toxic lipstick, check out this list of safer, lead-free options from The Daily Green.

Independent.ie December 24, 2009

Kelowna.com December 22, 2009

The Daily Green September 1, 2009

Just when childhood cancer survivors thought they were disease-free and out of the woods, a recent British Medical Journal study has found younger patients have a much higher risk of developing heart disease as adults. Even worse, the complications that lead to various cardiovascular risks -- among them inflammation of the heart, heart attack, heart valve problems and heart failure -- may occur up to 30 years after surviving cancer.

Those aren't the only dire numbers culled from this study of more than 14,000 patients who were diagnosed with cancer before age 21, between 1970-86, along with some 3,900 of their siblings. Cancer survivors were as much as six times more likely to suffer from heart-related diseases than their healthier siblings.

What's more, patients who survived Hodgkin's lymphoma as young people had an amazingly high 30-fold higher risk of cardiac death and an even greater 41-fold increase in mortality rates related to myocardial infarction, compared to the general population in the same age range.

Another worrisome link that harms younger cancer survivors later in life: The risk of heart problems was evident at lower exposures to radiation therapy and anthracyclines, antibiotics used to treat many kinds of cancer.

British Medical Journal December 8, 2009 Free Full Text Study

Telegraph.co.uk December 9, 2009

ScienceDaily December 10, 2009

Evidently, the voluntary end of the controversial Smart Choices labeling program late last month didn't mean the Kellogg Co. -- one of the world's largest producers of cereals with 2008 sales of some $13 billion -- was through giving up on making controversial claims about the foods it sells.

With the emergence of swine flu in the minds and bodies of Americans, Kellogg Co. announced its Cocoa Krispies and Rice Krispies cereals were being labeled with Now Helps Support Your Child's IMMUNITY, a claim many critics blasted out of the gate with a passion. The best of bunch came from Kelly Brownell, the director of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, as reported by USA Today: This one belongs in the hall of fame. By their logic, you can spray vitamins on a pile of leaves and it will boost immunity.

Fortunately for you and the health of your family, Kellogg took all these loud "hints" delivered by the media to heart, calling for a halt to these immunity claims, citing the public's growing concerns about the swine flu epidemic. Judge for yourself just how much Cocoa Krispies really boosts your child's immunity by checking out its laundry list of ingredients.

Associated Press November 5, 2009

USA Today November 2, 2009

TimesCall.com October 29, 2009

Millions of American children aren't getting the minimum amount of vitamin D they desperately need every day to build healthy bones, according to a new study. In fact, these findings support growing evidence that vitamin D levels, particularly among Hispanic and black kids, have dropped to unhealthy norms.

After reviewing health data collected from 2001-06 on 5,000 children, scientists found some 20 percent of all kids had vitamin D levels below the minimums set for children by the American Academy of Pediatrics (50nmol/L).

However, more than two-thirds of the children surveyed had vitamin D levels below 75 nmol/L, the amount some adult studies have suggested as a minimum that lowers the risk of some cancers and heart disease. Using that higher measurement, vitamin D levels among Hispanic and black children dropped like a rock by 80 and 92 percent, respectively.

On the other end of age spectrum, a coalition of European doctors is considering formalizing a standard for vitamin D levels among seniors older than age 75 (albeit a conservative one) that could eventually yield better bone health among all age groups. If you are considering supplementing your diet with vitamin D be sure to chose a formula that contains natural vitamin D3, which helps to increase absorption of dietary calcium while decreasing calcium excretion from the body.

Pediatrics, Vol. 124, No. 5, pp. 1404-1410, November 2009

ScienceDaily October 27, 2009

healthfinder.gov October 26, 2009

NutraIngredients.com October 26, 2009

Children may face cancer even before they leave their mother's womb, an extremely rare scenario but a legitimate risk according to a case study of a Japanese woman and her baby daughter who developed leukemia.

By using advanced genetic fingerprinting techniques, British researchers determined the baby's leukemia cells had developed in the mother and that both patients shared the very same mutated cancer genes. Also, this genetic detective work proved that the baby couldn't have developed leukemia on her own because she didn't inherit these genes from her mom.

So why didn't the infant's immune system ward off cancer cells on its own? The leukemia cells lacked bits of DNA that would've given them their own unique genetic identity, thus the infant's immune system didn't recognize them as a foreign and harmful invader. This lack of recognition allowed the leukemia cells to migrate through the mother's placenta to her child's bloodstream.

Before you start worrying about the health of your baby or grandchild, here's some perspective: There have been only 17 recorded cases (typically melanoma or leukemia) in which a mother and baby shared the same cancer.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106, No. 42, pp. 17882-17885, October 20, 2009

BBC News October 12, 2009

WebMD October 12, 2009

A consortium of some 40 processed food manufacturers led by Sara Lee, Coca-Cola, Kraft, General Mills, Mars and PepsiCo and organizations like the Grocery Manufacturers Association and American Dietetic Association Foundation have joined forces to launch the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF), a group whose primary goal is to reduce obesity levels, particularly among young children.

Pledging to be "aggressive" and as "proactive and visible as possible," members of the HWCF have committed $20 million to a three-pronged attack on obesity in schools, the marketplace and workplace.

Are you impressed by the collective efforts of the food industry and various public interest groups to curb the epidemic of obesity or just a bit skeptical, considering the recent announcement of the Smart Choices Program?

Fortunately, according to the Los Angeles Times, one non-profit group -- the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation -- will spend part of its $500 million budget devoted to fighting childhood obesity by being an independent watchdog of various HWCF's marketplace programs.

Los Angeles Times October 5, 2009

NutraIngredients-USA.com October 5, 2009

Supermarket News October 6, 2009

After its recent announcement about toughening up on very questionable food claims, here's hoping the FDA weighs in on the Smart Choices Program recently launched by the American Society for Nutrition and the non-profit NSF International.

While the intent of the program -- helping shoppers identify better food and beverage choices -- is admirable, the reality is, to put it mildly, something else entirely. Arguably, the program provides a seal of approval -- not to mention a free pass -- on many processed foods -- think sugary-sweet cereals like Froot Loops and Cocoa Krispies -- and heavily salted foods manufactured by the likes of "Big Food" monoliths such as General Mills, Kelloggs, Pepsico and Kraft, Tyson Foods and ConAgra.

By the way, these companies pay as much as $100,000 apiece annually based on sales of processed food products that bear the Smart Choices seal. And, you know what happens when "Big Food" gets involved...

After serving on the panel that created the nutritional criteria for the Smart Choices program, Center for Science in the Public Interest's executive director Michael Jacobsen resigned thanks to undue influence exerted by food manufacturers. "It was paid for by industry and when industry puts its foot down and said this is what we're doing, that was it, end of story," Jacobsen told the New York Times.

The big problem with the Smart Choices initiative, Jacobsen says: The extra wiggle-room afforded to processed foods that contain extra nutrients that provide additional cover for products that probably wouldn't be approved without them.

TreeHugger.com September 6, 2009

New York Times September 4, 2009

A recent Danish study on animals underscores just how important vitamin C can be to the brains of newborns, especially during the first few months of their lives.

Researchers studied the need for vitamin C "brain food" by separating 30 newborn guinea pigs into groups fed diets containing low or adequate amounts of vitamin C for two months. Then, the mental acuity of each guinea pig was measured in a water maze, in addition to the number of neurons in their hippocampus (the sector of the brain that affects long-term memory and spatial navigation).

No surprise, guinea pigs in the low vitamin C group had 30 percent fewer neurons in the hippocampus and performed markedly worse on spatial tests than those fed adequate diets.

Consequently, scientists believe the vitamin C-deficient diets of pregnant women as well as those choosing to breast feed may harm the mental development of newborns. And, based on reported problems among adults, experts estimate as many as 10 percent of newborn babies may be affected by the lack of vitamin C.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 90, No. 3, pp. 540-546, September 2009

Science Daily September 2, 2009

NutraIngredients-USA September 3, 2009

Ever wonder why the California Milk Processor Board keeps producing their got milk? ads, even after nearly 16 years?

An interesting factoid: Less than 40 percent of the world's population retains the ability to digest lactose after childhood. While up to 90 percent of northern European populations can digest milk (particularly in Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden), the numbers are nonexistent -- close to 0 -- among Native Americans, only 5 percent among Asians and 25 percent among Africans and Caribbean groups.

The ability to drink and digest milk may not be normal, according to this interesting USA Today feature. In fact, a patient's inability to drink the white stuff may not truly be a disease (lactose intolerance). Many scientists believe those who consume milk into adulthood possess a genetic mutation -- lactase persistence -- that allows them to do it.

A recent UK study has shown through computer modeling how this mutation first appeared in dairy farmers living between the center Balkans and central Europe some 7,500 years ago.

USA Today September 1, 2009

PLOS Computational Biology August 2009 Free Full Text Study

Baltimore Sun August 21, 2009

EurekAlert August 27, 2009

Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology August 10, 2009 Free Full Text Study

The FDA seems to be getting more comfortable with issuing black box warnings. The latest group of drugs on the watch list -- tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers -- are linked to rising cancer risks among children and adolescents.

The agency began investigating TNF blockers after reports of several dozen children developing cancer surfaced more than a year ago. Malignancies were diagnosed some 21/2 years after kids started taking these drugs and roughly half led to lymphomas.

What really grabbed the attention of the FDA: A New England Journal of Medicine report about a Chron's disease sufferer and lung cancer patient whose cancer went into remission after she stopped using a TNF blocker.

TNF blockers receiving black box warnings from the FDA:

Cimzia

Enbrel

Remicade

Humira

Simponi

HealthScout August 4, 2009

Wall Street Journal August 4, 2009

Remicade and Simponi are trademarks of Centocor Ortho Biotech.

Enbrel is a trademark of Amgen and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Humira is a trademark of Abbott Laboratories.

Cimzia is a trademark of UCB.

You may have heard pundits discussing the findings of a British review of studies (source link below) that debates the nutritional value of organic foods versus those that are conventionally grown. After reviewing 162 studies published over a 50-year period (1958-2008), researchers found "no evidence of a difference in nutrient content between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs," according to the report.

The main differences that were mentioned: Conventionally produced crops contained significantly higher amounts of nitrogen while organic crops had much more phosphorus and higher volumes of acidity. Those results only explain part of the story...

Unfortunately, the study sidestepped the presence of pesticides in foods, a point driven home by a 2006 Environmental Health Perspectives study that concluded organic diets reduced such exposures dramatically -- particularly malathion and chlorpyrifos -- among children.

Moreover, a trio of experts came to radically different conclusions about the superior nutritional value of organic foods, using another methodology and narrowing the span of their review of studies to the 1980s.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition July 29, 2009

Seattle Times August 5, 2009

healthfinder.gov July 29, 2009

Considering the recent track record of the FDA on safety issues in America, it's no surprise Canadians are dealing with similar issues, this time with baby bottles erroneously labeled to be free of bisphenol A (BPA) the problematic chemical also used to make CDs, dental sealants and bottled water containers.

Canwest News Service learned (through the Canadian version of the Freedom of Information Act) that some plastics used to make baby bottles still contained BPA even though Canada announced a ban on the sale and advertisement of baby bottles with that toxic substance last year. Out of nine brands of baby bottles Health Canada tested, two contained "high readings" of toxins.

Even more disturbing, Canadian scientists also discovered "trace levels of BPA" in non-polycarbonate bottles and bottle liners.

In contrast, just two states (Minnesota, Connecticut) and two cities (Chicago, Long Island) have enacted bans on BPA, a substance that has been found in the urine of most Americans.

NutraIngredients.com July 31, 2009

Science News July 30, 2009

Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel July 31, 2009