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please submit to us and we make it public here. [ send your article ] Weight loss articlesPrevention of obesity in children should begin early in life, possibly before birthInvestigators comcluded most obesity prevention programs - including the national initiative recently launched by First Lady Michelle Obama - target kids age 8 and older. Now they say that factors that place children at higher risk for obesity begin at infancy, and in some cases, during pregnancy. Their research also suggests that risk factors such as poor feeding practices, insufficient sleep and televisions in bedrooms are disproportionately higher among minority children than white children. When compared to Caucasian women, the researchers found that minority women were more likely to be overweight when they became pregnant and Hispanic women had a higher rate of gestational diabetes, both risk factors for obesity in children. Although the prevalence of two other risk factors - smoking and depression - during pregnancy was higher among African-American and Hispanic women, those rates dropped considerably when the researchers adjusted for socioeconomic status, suggesting that at least those two risk factors may be impacted by income and education levels. When researchers looked at other risk factors during children's first five years, they found that African-American and Hispanic infants are more likely than their Caucasian counterparts to be born small, gain excess weight after birth, begin eating solid foods before 4 months of age and sleep less. During their preschool years, the study suggests, minority children eat more fast food, drink more sugar-sweetened beverages and are more likely to watch television in their rooms than Caucasian children. One commonly held theory is that the presence of these and other risk factors is caused by limited access to health care, poverty and low educational levels. However, when study team adjusted for socioeconomic status, researchers found that the prevalence of many of the risk factors remained the same. This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The study was published online March 1 in the journal Pediatrics> please submit to us and we make it public here. [ send your article ] NOTE: Issues on this site regarding men's health and their concerns, are provided for information only, and are not meant to substitute for the advice of your own physician or other medical professional. Weightloss-Report.org does not endorse any specific product, service or treatment. |
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