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…

The purpose of this project was to examine the effectiveness of a fitness infusion instructional strategy (FI) on children's activity levels and skill performance scores. This strategy included aerobic activity within the skill practice tasks and game play. In other words, students performed short bouts of activity between the practice and…

As researchers continue to analyze the role of parenting both in the development of childhood overweight and in obesity prevention, studies of child nutrition and growth are detailing the ways in which parents affect their children's development of food- and activity-related behaviors. Ana Lindsay, Katarina Sussner, Juhee Kim, and Steven Gortmaker…

Background: Gradual elevation of body weight leads numerous individuals to dieting and weight loss behaviours. Nevertheless, the prevalence of obesity continues to rise in industrialised countries. The examination of the motivational determinants of dietary modification ("dieting") in order to identify clusters of individuals in the…

The state of children's fitness is the responsibility of all who are involved with children. As early childhood professionals, they have a duty to educate the whole (thinking, feeling, "moving") child. Moreover, teachers of preschoolers can be more realistic than parents in their assessment of children's physical inactivity levels, and preschool…

Over the past few years, media use among children and teens has become more prevalent than ever. With the launch of the iPod, the explosion in instant messaging, the birth of mobile video and YouTube, and the advent of social networking sites like MySpace, young people are rarely out of contact, or out of reach of the media. Meanwhile,…

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):…