MCH Alert


Maternal and Child Health Library

This and past issues of the MCH Alert are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/archives.html


February 19, 2010


Special Notice: A forum on curbing childhood obesity will be held on Tuesday, March 2, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The forum coincides with the release of the March 2010 edition of Health Affairs, which is devoted to childhood obesity. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the issue includes an analysis of the epidemic of childhood obesity and contains papers focused on the roles of families, schools, food and agricultural policy, and clinical health care in addressing the problem. More information will appear in the March 5, 2010, issue of MCH Alert.

1. National Campaign Launched to Tackle the Challenge of Childhood Obesity
2. New Tool Compares Food Environments of U.S. Counties
3. Study Investigates Correlates of Whole-Grain Intake Among Adolescents and Young Adults
4. Authors Assess Relationship Between Childhood Obesity, Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Premature Death
5. Article Examines Dynamics of Chronic Health Conditions Among Children

************************************************************

1. NATIONAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED TO TACKLE THE CHALLENGE OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Let's Move is a new campaign launched at the White House on February 9, 2010, to facilitate public- and private-sector commitments toward the national goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. The campaign's Web site, a collaboration of the administration and the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Education, provides families, schools, and communities with tools to help children be more active, eat better, and get healthy. Multimedia content includes audio and video of the campaign's launch event, a blog, and public service announcements. The Kids' Collection features activity books, games, videos, posters, and materials for adolescents. A link to the Presidential Memorandum creating the Task Force on Childhood Obesity and options for joining the call to action and receiving e-mail updates on new features, tips, and tools are also provided. The Web site is available at http://www.letsmove.gov

Readers: At the campaign's launch, the administration also announced the formation of the Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonpartisan alliance of organizations with the common goal of improving children's health by preventing obesity. Partners and founders include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente, Nemours, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. More information is available at http://www.ahealthieramerica.org

************************************************************

2. NEW TOOL COMPARES FOOD ENVIRONMENTS OF U.S. COUNTIES

Your Food Environment Atlas is an online mapping tool that assembles statistics on food environment indicators and provides a spatial overview of a community's ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so. The atlas was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, with support from federal agencies, academia, and the private sector. The atlas assembles food environment factors within three broad categories (food choices, health and well-being, community characteristics) and currently includes 90 indicators -- most at the county level. Users can create maps showing the variation in a single indicator across the United States, view all the county-level indicators for a selected county, or use the advance query tool to identify counties sharing the same degree of multiple indicators. The atlas is designed to stimulate research on the determinants of food choices and diet quality and inform policymakers as they address diet and public health. The atlas is available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/FoodAtlas

************************************************************

3. STUDY INVESTIGATES CORRELATES OF WHOLE-GRAIN INTAKE AMONG ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS

"The findings of this study indicate that interventions designed to promote improvements in whole-grain intake should address confidence to consume whole grains, taste preferences for whole-grain products, and the availability of these foods in settings where youth frequently eat meals (schools, home, restaurants)," state the authors of an article published in the February 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Most adolescents and young adults should consume three or more ounce-equivalent servings of whole-grain products per day. However, U.S. national survey data indicate that the average young person consumes one or fewer ounce-equivalent servings per day. Prior research has identified demographic correlates of poor whole-grain intake among young people and adults, and a small number of studies have reported barriers to the consumption of whole-grain foods. The article describes a study to identify factors based on social cognitive theory (personal, socioenvironmental, and behavioral factors) influencing whole-grain intake in a diverse, population-based sample of young people in Minnesota.

Data for the analysis were drawn from Project EAT (Eating Among Teens)-II, the second wave of a population-based study designed to examine determinants of dietary intake and weight status among young people. The sample for the current study included 1,110 males (44.8 percent) and 1,368 females (55.2 percent) who completed both an in-class survey in junior or senior high school (1998-1999, Time 1) and a mailed food frequency questionnaire 5 years later (2003-2004, Time 2). The mean age of participants in the younger cohort was age approximately 12.8 at Time 1 and 17.2 at Time 2; for the older cohort it was 15.9 at Time 1 and 20.5 at Time 2. The analyses examined daily intake of whole grain by sex and then used separate models to examine each potential correlate of whole-grain intake, stratified by sex and cohort and adjusted for other sociodemographic characteristics.

The authors found that
The authors conclude that "to improve the availability of whole-grain breads and other products at home, parents as well as youth may need to be provided additional tools to help them identify and prepare whole-grain products. The observation of an inverse relationship between fast-food intake and whole-grain intake further suggests there is a need to improve the availability of whole-grain products in restaurants."

Larson NI, Neumark-Sztainer D, Story M, et al. 2010. Whole-grain intake correlates among adolescents and young adults: Findings from Project EAT. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 110(2):230-237. Abstract available at http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(09)01810-0/abstract

Readers: More information is available from the following MCH Library resources:

- Nutrition in Children and Adolescents: Knowledge Path at
http://mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_childnutr.html

************************************************************

4. AUTHORS ASSESS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDHOOD OBESITY, OTHER CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS, AND PREMATURE DEATH

"Obesity in children who do not have diabetes is associated with an increased rate of death from endogenous causes during early adulthood, an association that may be partially mediated by the development of glucose intolerance and hypertension in childhood. In contrast, the cholesterol level in childhood is not a major determinant of premature death in this population," write the authors of an article published in the February 11, 2010, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Cardiovascular risk factors are common in children. Although early-onset diabetes has been shown to raise mortality rates, and the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors during adulthood and early death is well defined, little is known about the way in which cardiovascular risk factors that are present during childhood affect life span. In the study described in this article, the authors assessed the extent to which obesity, glucose intolerance, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia in children without diabetes predicted premature death (defined as death before age 55) in American Indians in Arizona.

Study participants included 4,857 children and adolescents (ages 5-20) who lived in a well-defined geographic area of the Gila River Indian Community of Arizona and had at least 4/8 Pima or Tohono O'odham Indian heritage, did not have diabetes, and underwent one or more research examinations between February 1966 and December 2003. During the examinations, researchers assessed the extent to which body mass index (BMI), 2-hour plasma glucose level during a 75-g oral glucose-tolerance test, and blood pressure and total cholesterol levels predicted premature death. The baseline examination was the first examination at which all these variables were measured. The analyses included data from the date of the baseline examination until the person's death, the person's 55th birthday, or the end of 2003, whichever came first. Models were used to test for associations between the baseline childhood risk factors and time of death, with adjustment for baseline age, sex, Pima or Tohono O'odham Indian heritage, and birth year.

The authors found that
The authors conclude that "childhood obesity is becoming increasingly prevalent around the globe. Our observations, combined with those of other investigators, suggest that failure to reverse this trend may have wide-reaching consequences for the quality of
life and longevity."

Franks PW, Hanson RL, Knowler WC, et al. 2010. Childhood obesity, other cardiovascular risk factors, and premature death. New England Journal of Medicine 362(6):485-493. Full text available at http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/362/6/485

Readers: More information is available from the following MCH Library resources:

- Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents: Knowledge Path at
http://mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_overweight.html

************************************************************

5. ARTICLE EXAMINES DYNAMICS OF CHRONIC HEALTH CONDITIONS AMONG CHILDREN

"Our study is among the first to examine increasing prevalence of chronic conditions in a cohort over time in the United States and to document the patterns of change in chronic conditions in different cohorts over several years," state the authors of an article published in the February 17, 2010, issue of JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association. The article examines changes in the incidence, rates of remission, and prevalence of obesity and other chronic conditions at any time in 6 years in three nationally representative cohorts of children.

The study sample included children born to mothers who were ages 14-21 in 1979 and who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience, Youth Cohort. Cohort 1 included children ages 2-8 in 1988, cohort 2 included children ages 2-8 in 1994, and cohort 3 included children ages 2-8 in 2000. Each cohort was followed for 6 years. At each interview, mothers were asked whether their child had any physical, emotional, or mental condition that prevented him or her from attending school regularly, doing regular schoolwork, or doing usual childhood activities or that required frequent attention or treatment from a health professional, regular use of any medication, or use of special equipment. The researchers calculated prevalence of any chronic condition and conditions in four subgroups (asthma, other physical problem, behavior or learning problem, obesity) in the first and last year for all cohorts grouped together and for each cohort individually. Next, for any chronic condition and subgroups, the researchers calculated incidence, persistence (proportion of children initially with a chronic condition who also had the condition at the end of the study period), and "new cases" (proportion of conditions reported in the final year of each study period that were not present at the beginning). Then, they calculated the prevalence of having a chronic condition during any part of the 6-year study period for any chronic condition and subcategories of conditions of all cohorts. Finally, they compared differences in prevalence, incidence, persistence, new cases, and prevalence of having a chronic condition during any part of the 6-year study period between consecutive cohorts. They also examined the association between sociodemographic variables and prevalence of having a chronic condition during any part of the 6-year study period in models that included all participants.

The authors found that
The authors conclude that "chronic conditions in childhood are common and dynamic, underscoring the benefits of continuous, comprehensive health services for all children to adjust treatment of chronic conditions, promote remission, and prevent onset of new conditions."

Van Cleave J, Gortmaker SL, Perrin JM. 2010. Dynamics of obesity and chronic health conditions among children and youth. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association 303(7):623-630. Free full-text available at http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/303/7/623?home

Readers: More information is available from the following MCH Library resources:

- Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs: Knowledge Path at
http://mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_CSHCN.html

************************************************************

 To subscribe to MCH Alert, send an e-mail message to MCHAlert-request@lists.mchgroup.org with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. You do not need to enter any text in the body of the message.

To unsubscribe from MCH Alert, send an e-mail message to MCHAlert-request@lists.mchgroup.org with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. You do not need to enter any text in the body of the message.

************************************************************

MCH Library shares notices of new issues of MCH Alert on Twitter at http://bit.ly/OKv5Y, via RSS Feed at http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/21403022.rss, and on Facebook at http://bit.ly/5hQew

************************************************************

MCH Alert © 1998-2010 by National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health and Georgetown University. MCH Alert is produced by Maternal and Child Health Library at the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health under its cooperative agreement (U02MC00001) with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to use the work for federal purposes and to authorize others to use the work for federal purposes.
 
Permission is given to forward MCH Alert, in its entirety, to others. For all other uses, requests for permission to duplicate and use all or part of the information contained in this publication should be sent to mchalert@ncemch.org.

The editors welcome your submissions, suggestions, and questions. Please contact us at the address below.

MANAGING EDITOR: Jolene Bertness
CO-EDITOR: Tracy Lopez
COPYEDITOR/WRITER: Ruth Barzel
LIST ADMINISTRATOR: Beth DeFrancis Sun

MCH Alert
Maternal and Child Health Library
Georgetown University
Box 571272
Washington, DC 20057-1272
Phone: (202) 784-9770
Fax: (202) 784-9777
E-mail: mchalert@ncemch.org
Web site: http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert

************************************************************