The cost of paediatric obesity

There has been a great deal of media attention given to the rising levels of obesity and overweight in children and adolescents, but what is the real cost of pediatric obesity? This article reviews information about the recent rise in pediatric obesity and discusses the cost of this condition from medical, financial and psychological perspectives.

Fetal growth restriction results in remodeled and less efficient hearts in children

Background— Fetal growth restriction (FGR) affects 5% to 10% of newborns and is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in adulthood. The most commonly accepted hypothesis is that fetal metabolic programming leads secondarily to diseases associated with cardiovascular disease, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Our main objective was to evaluate the alternative hypothesis that FGR induces primary cardiac changes that persist into childhood. Methods and Results— Within a cohort of fetuses with growth restriction identified in fetal life and followed up into childhood, we randomly selected 80 subjects with FGR and compared them with 120 normally grown fetuses, matched for gender, birth date, and gestational age at birth. Cardiovascular assessment was performed in childhood (mean age of 5 years). Compared with control subjects, children with FGR had a different cardiac shape, with increased transversal diameters and more globular cardiac ventricles. Although left ejection fraction was similar among the study groups, stroke volume was reduced significantly, which was compensated for by an increased heart rate to maintain output in severe FGR. This was associated with subclinical longitudinal systolic dysfunction (decreased myocardial peak velocities) and diastolic changes (increased E/E' ratio and E deceleration time). Children with FGR also had higher blood pressure and increased intima-media thickness. For all parameters evaluated, there was a linear increase with the severity of growth restriction. Conclusions— These findings suggest that FGR induces primary cardiac and vascular changes that could explain the increased predisposition to cardiovascular disease in adult life. If these results are confirmed, the impact of strategies with beneficial effects on cardiac remodeling should be explored in children with FGR.

Teaching our children when to eat:how parental feeding practices inform the development of emotional eating-a longitudinal experimental design

Background: Emotional eating in children has been related to the consumption of energy-dense foods and obesity, but the development of emotional eating in young children is poorly understood. Objectives: We evaluated whether emotional eating can be induced in 5-7-y-old children in the laboratory and assessed whether parental use of overly controlling feeding practices at 3-5 y of age predicts a greater subsequent tendency for children to eat under conditions of mild stress at ages 5-7 y. Design: Forty-one parent-child dyads were recruited to participate in this longitudinal study, which involved parents and children being observed consuming a standard lunch, completing questionnaire measures of parental feeding practices, participating in a research procedure to induce child emotion (or a control procedure), and observing children's consumption of snack foods. Results: Children at ages 5-7 y who were exposed to a mild emotional stressor consumed significantly more calories from snack foods in the absence of hunger than did children in a control group. Parents who reported the use of more food as a reward and restriction of food for health reasons with their children at ages 3-5 y were more likely to have children who ate more under conditions of negative emotion at ages 5-7 y. Conclusions: Parents who overly control children's food intake may unintentionally teach children to rely on palatable foods to cope with negative emotions. Additional research is needed to evaluate the implications of these findings for children's food intake and weight outside of the laboratory setting. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01122290.

Business and children`:mapping impacts, managing responsibilities

In recent years, issues of childhood obesity, unsafe toys, and child labor have raised the question of corporate responsibilities to children. However, business impacts on children are complex, multi-faceted, and frequently overlooked by senior managers. This article reports on a systematic analysis of the reputational landscape constructed by the media, corporations, and non-government organizations around business responsibilities to children. A content analysis methodology is applied to a sample of more than 350 relevant accounts during a 5-year period. We identify seven core responsibilities that are then used to provide a framework for enabling businesses to map their range of impacts on children. We set out guidelines for how to identify and manage the firm’s strategic responsibilities in this arena, and identify the␣constraints that corporations face in meeting such responsibilities.