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Even some severely obese preteens should be considered for weight loss surgery, according to new recommendations. The guidance issued Sunday by the American Academy of Pediatrics is based on a review of medical evidence, including several studies showing that surgery in teens can result in marked weight loss lasting at least several years, with few complications. In many cases, related health problems including diabetes and high blood pressure vanished after surgery. While most of those studies involved teens, one included children younger than 12 and found no ill effects on growth, the policy says. “Safe and effective is the message...

A vacationing U.S. President Barack Obama accused Congress on Saturday of holding back the U.S. economic recovery by blocking "common sense" measures he said would create jobs and help growth. In remarks recorded on Wednesday on his campaign-style bus tour in Illinois and aired during his holiday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Obama said the stalled construction, trade and payroll tax bills could give a boost to the economy. "The only thing preventing us from passing these bills is the refusal by some in Congress to put country ahead of party. That's the problem right now. That's what's holding this country...

Government bans the word 'obese' to describe overweight children Obesity is a growing problem in the UK Parents of primary school children will start getting letters in September telling them how fat their children are. But however much they weigh, no child will ever be described as obese. The Department of Health has found in surveys that the term obese is a turn-off, so instead will use the term “very overweight” for those children whose body mass index exceeds 30, in an attempt to enlist parents’ support. Primary care trusts have been given a detailed set of instructions, and a...

CHICAGO - The percentage of American children who are overweight or obese appears to have leveled off after a 25-year increase, according to new figures that offer a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dismal battle. "That is a first encouraging finding in what has been unremittingly bad news,'' said Dr. David Ludwig, director of an obesity clinic at Children's Hospital Boston. "But it's too soon to know if this really means we're beginning to make meaningful inroads into this epidemic. It may simply be a statistical fluke.'' In 2003-04 and 2005-06, roughly 32 percent of children were overweight or...

Germany has laid claim to the dubious distinction of being the most obese country in Europe, the International Association for the Study of Obesity reports. The report said 75 percent of German males and 59 percent of German females are overweight, and cited several factors, the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported. Among them were poor diet, mounting consumption of alcohol, and less and less physical activity in a country where 60 percent of people would rather drive than walk.

A revolution has begun in West Virginia public schools that may change the way students look at physical activity. The West Virginia Department of Education has teamed up with Konami Digital Entertainment to place the game ''Dance Dance Revolution'' in the state's public schools after a study done by the West Virginia University School of Medicine showed that children who play the game become more physically fit. The study focused on overweight children who were required to play ''Dance Dance Revolution'' five days a week for 12 weeks, according to Emily Murphy, a pediatric exercise physiologist, the University's School of...

Across the country, increasing production costs and inadequate federal funding have compounded to create a dietary crisis in public school lunch programs, and many people are clamoring for a change. Jennifer Wilkins is one of those people. A senior extension associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell, Wilkins has been outspoken in her criticism of the federal government and in her demand for a solution to the growing dietary crisis in America’s public schools. Wilkins explained that the federal government has placed U.S. public schools in an unenviable position; strapped for cash, schools are still expected to provide...

PALMYRA, Pa. - Parents who visit their children at lunch would be required to eat school food rather than bring the children fast-food lunches under a proposed wellness policy in the Palmyra Area School District. That doesn't set well with some parents. Lori Swisher, who has three children at Forge Road Elementary School, agreed the schools don't need soda machines or daily doughnuts, but bristled at "one more government restriction." Swisher said she occasionally has brought pizza or a sub to her kids at school. "I like to think I serve mostly healthy meals, but when all three have sports,...

EVERY schoolchild will have to undergo an obesity test in their first year at primary school, in the latest controversial attempt by ministers to force Scots to improve their health. Five-year-olds will be weighed and measured by health workers to assess whether or not they are clinically overweight. Advert for The Scotsman Digital Archive Those who fail the test could be referred to a dietician for instructions on what to eat, while parents will be told how to prepare food to reduce their children's weight. Ministers claim that in order to shed Scotland's tag as the sick man of Europe,...

WASHINGTON - Uncle Sam wants YOU, that famous Army recruiting poster says. But does he really? Not if you're a Ritalin-taking, overweight, Generation Y couch potato - or some combination of the above. As for that fashionable "body art" that the military still calls a tattoo, having one is grounds for rejection, too. With U.S. casualties rising in wars overseas and more opportunities in the civilian work force from an improved U.S. economy, many young people are shunning a career in the armed forces. But recruiting is still a two-way street - and the military, too, doesn't want most people...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Obese children may have a hard time exercising because of the effort needed to move their larger bodies -- not because their hearts aren't up to the challenge, according to a new study. The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, suggest that significantly overweight children should stick with low-intensity activities -- such as walking at an easy pace -- so that they don't fade quickly or ultimately give up on exercise. The study included 129 obese and 34 normal-weight teenagers who underwent fitness tests on a stationary bike. During higher-intensity cycling tests, both groups of...

The Marple Newtown School Board unanimously approved a preliminary budget April 26 for the 2005-2006 school year in the amount of $52,919,000. This includes a tax levy of 13.67 mills or 0.1367 of assessed value or real estate and a levy of one-half of one percent tax on real estate transfers within the school district. Prior to the vote Newtown resident Ray Euler voiced opposition to a 4.19 percent tax increase. He said if the motion passed that it would mean there has been a 31 percent increase in school taxes over the last five years. His statement that he...

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia school officials approved a policy banning the sale of carbonated soft drinks in all city schools. Starting in July, only milk, water, fruit juice and the occasional sports drink will be available from most of the district's 740 vending machines and in its cafeterias, according to rules passed Wednesday by the School Reform Commission. The 214,000-student district took the action following a January recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics that soft drinks be eliminated from schools as a way of fighting an obesity epidemic among young people.

A panel of U.S. public health experts says the country's epidemic of childhood obesity threatens to set back the medical advances that have decreased child mortality and extended life spans in the past century. The panel recommends that every sector of the nation work to reverse the rapid rise in youth obesity as ambitiously as anti-smoking efforts. The expert recommendations come in response to a request from Congress, which is seeking ways to reverse the overweight epidemic lest it become an unrelenting health burden to the country. Since the 1970s, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled among U.S....

The family life, education and health of America's children are generally improving, though child poverty has risen for the first time in a decade, according to the government's broadest measure of children's well-being. The report today by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics finds children are doing better for the most part. The teen birth rate is down, young people are less likely to be involved in violent crimes and the death rate for this group has declined. Still, children are more likely to be overweight than they were before and child poverty has inched up after...

Editorial Second Thoughts By William W. Lawrence Those all-wise and knowing groups responsible for our health have recommended that whole milk be removed from school lunch menus and Penn Delco has followed their advice. The reason is to cut down on fat and turn little Timmy and Suzy from obese to svelte. Now the deep thinkers in charge of such things cannot see that whole milk is really not the problem. It has been served in schools for generations and most of these generations weren't fat. The problem is unhealthy food -- of which whole milk is not -- and...

Play nice, kids By Jim Caple Page 2 columnist We are one step closer toward raising a generation of paste-devouring Ralph Wiggums. Is this what you want, wussies? If you thought some schools went overboard when they banned dodge ball last year, consider this: A Santa Monica elementary school principal recently banned tag, saying the game can only be played under the strict supervision of physical education teachers and not at all during the lunch hour recess. That's due to: one, the risk of injury; and two, a "self-esteem issue," because whoever is "it" could be considered a "victim." "We...