Health News
- Wellcare Health Plans Gives Six Kentucky Ymca Programs $50,000 To Combat Childhood Obesity
WellCare Health Plans has gven six Kentucky YMCA programs a total of $50,000 to be used for childhood obesity programs, according to a news release. "Studies show that children and adolescents who are obese are likely to become obese adults who are more...
- Study Says Overweight Kids Become Overweight Teens
If a child is overweight in kindergarten, she probably will be in eighth grade, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And if your baby was heavy at birth, it has a greater chance of being fat. It found overweight kindergartners...
- Study Says Obese Children (kentucky's A Leader In That) May Have Quadruple The Risk Of Having High Blood Pressure As Adults
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News A new study shows that being obese in childhood may quadruple the risk of having high blood pressure risk as an adult, highlighting the need for Kentucky to curb its high rate of childhood obesity. Eighteen percent...
- Community-based Solutions To Childhood Obesity Show Signs Of Progress Elsewhere; Will Kentucky Pick Up On Them?
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News For decades, researchers reported with alarm the increasing trend of overweight children in America, with one in three kids on the way to developing Type 2 diabetes. Across the country, action has been taken to address...
- Childhood Obesity Is Linked To More Immediate Health Problems Than Doctors Formerly Realized
While a plethora of research on childhood obesity has linked it to long-term health problems, a new UCLA study focuses on the condition's more proximate consequences, showing that obese children are at a greater risk for immediate health problems...
Health News
September is national Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
September has been proclaimed national Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, with President Obama asking Americans to "take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all our nation's children."
The U.S. childhood obesity rate has tripled since the 1970s, with 1 in 3 American children now either overweight or obese. As such, experts say one third of "children born in 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes during their lifetime, with many others at risk of obesity-related illnesses including heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and asthma," reports Julian Pecquet of congressional newspaper The Hill.
Childhood obesity is especially prevalent in Kentucky. The state has the the seventh highest obesity rate nationwide and the fourth highest rate of childhood obesity. Reporters can find by-county obesity rates by clicking here, but by-county childhood obesity rates are not available because counties are collecting data in different ways and at different ages, Sarah Walsh of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky said recently.
While the problem is a big one, there are initiatives underway to tackle it, including first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move," which helps communities make healthy food and exercise choices. It also includes a partnership with grocery stores to increase food choices in areas that do not have easy access to healthy foods. (Read more)
- Wellcare Health Plans Gives Six Kentucky Ymca Programs $50,000 To Combat Childhood Obesity
WellCare Health Plans has gven six Kentucky YMCA programs a total of $50,000 to be used for childhood obesity programs, according to a news release. "Studies show that children and adolescents who are obese are likely to become obese adults who are more...
- Study Says Overweight Kids Become Overweight Teens
If a child is overweight in kindergarten, she probably will be in eighth grade, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And if your baby was heavy at birth, it has a greater chance of being fat. It found overweight kindergartners...
- Study Says Obese Children (kentucky's A Leader In That) May Have Quadruple The Risk Of Having High Blood Pressure As Adults
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News A new study shows that being obese in childhood may quadruple the risk of having high blood pressure risk as an adult, highlighting the need for Kentucky to curb its high rate of childhood obesity. Eighteen percent...
- Community-based Solutions To Childhood Obesity Show Signs Of Progress Elsewhere; Will Kentucky Pick Up On Them?
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News For decades, researchers reported with alarm the increasing trend of overweight children in America, with one in three kids on the way to developing Type 2 diabetes. Across the country, action has been taken to address...
- Childhood Obesity Is Linked To More Immediate Health Problems Than Doctors Formerly Realized
While a plethora of research on childhood obesity has linked it to long-term health problems, a new UCLA study focuses on the condition's more proximate consequences, showing that obese children are at a greater risk for immediate health problems...