Co-hosted by the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) and The Keystone Center, the third annual Keystone Center Youth Policy Summit focused on Adolescent and Childhood Nutrition in America's K-12 Schools. In June 2006, 40 students from 10 math and science schools came together in…

This study compared the effect of physical activity and obesity on academic achievement and was based on the premise that the health of a child has an effect on his or her ability to learn and to achieve academically. Specifically, health-related topics of inactivity and obesity were considered. The participants included 12,607 third grade…

This article describes three consciousness-raising groups for obese women which met to explore what it is like to be fat in a thin-oriented society, to enhance their self-esteem, and to help the women recognize that being fat is one of many choices a person may legitimately make for herself. (Author/EJT)

The use of behavioral contracting in exercise programs has been shown to be effective in increasing the frequency of exercise activity and in reducing dropout rates. A study was undertaken to examine the impact of three cardiovascular risk factors (poor physical fitness, obesity, and smoking) on both client willingness to sign a behavioral…

Conflicts that accompany weight loss as indicated by the presence of anxieties and fears in individuals who have lost an uncontestably large amount of weight were investigated. Subjects (N=12) who had lost a minimum of 100 pounds in a medically supervised weight program were interviewed about the onset of obesity, concurrent personal conflicts,…

The role of the therapist was varied in a weight reduction program. When meetings with the therapist were "faded out" over the duration of the 10-week treatment period subjects lost significantly more weight compared to subjects who met with the therapist on a regular basis; both groups differed significantly from controls. Six months after…

Two case reports are presented of institutionalized women who were diagnosed as having Prader-Willi syndrome at the ages of 54 and 69. Implications are discussed for management of such persons and for program planning/funding for a much longer life expectancy than earlier realized. (Author/JDD)

Among college women, the desire for slim, noncurvaceous bodies associated with dieting and binging is correlated with an emphasis on physical attractiveness. This desire, associated with purging and underweight, is based on the belief that thin women are perceived as more intelligent. (Author/BJV)

This article describes how health professionals at the University of Manitoba developed an educational and treatment program for eating disorders. Discusses the group's two objectives: to plan a preventative program for all eating disorders (including obesity) that would be oriented to health maintenance and to organize a treatment program. (CT)

We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition) is a new public education outreach program designed to help children 8-13 years old stay at a healthy weight through improving food choices, increasing physical activity, and reducing screen time. The program is a collaboration of four Institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH):…

This report used information from two United Kingdom national cohorts to estimate the magnitude of the effects of learning on depression and obesity. Members of the two cohorts were surveyed in 1999-00, when those in the 1970 cohort were age 33 years and those in the 1958 cohort were age 42 years. Overall, education was an important risk factor…

Discusses the health problems of diabetes and obesity which are prevalent among the American Indians of Wisconsin, and describes a training program of paraprofessional health educators designed to help alleviate these problems in the Indian community. (JR)

Assigned children (N=114) from stratified blocks of percentage overweight to a comprehensive behavioral program or to a no-treatment condition. The average child in treatment declined to percentage overweight 5.71%; children in the control group gained 2.41%. Parental participation was correlated with weight change among children in the treatment…

Compared behavioral counseling with nutrition education. Initial weight losses were similar. Behavioral participants consumed fewer calories but often used diets that were nutritionally unsound. Behavioral treatment appears best for moderate obesity, but procedures are needed for nutrition education, promoting fitness, and teaching independent…

Investigated whether stigmatization of obese persons has affected rehabilitation counseling students' perceptions of such clients. Results suggest that rehabilitation students perceive obese clients more negatively. If a counselor's first impression of an obese client is that he is less competent and less attractive, rehabilitation outcome could…