child nutrition

The obesity rate among U.S. adults doubled since 1980 to its current 35 percent. "We are starting to see signs of hope," say the heads of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health in their "State of Obesity" report. It says childhood obesity rates stabilized in the past decade and the rate of increase in obesity among adults is slowing. "In 2005, every state but one reported an increase in obesity rates; this past year, only six states experienced an increase," it says. The six states are Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, New Jersey, Tennessee and Wyoming.

A series of 11 nutritional studies published in the journal Pediatrics indicate that dietary preferences are determined during infancy, says the New York Times. It says researchers compared the diets of 1,500 six-year-olds to their food patterns during their first year. Says the Times story: "(W)hen infants had infrequent consumption of fruits and vegetables, they also had infrequent consumption at 6,” said Kelley Scanlon, an epidemiologist at the C.D.C. and the senior author of a few of the new studies.

A ban on vending machines in schools can lead to increased soda and fast-food consumption if its the only change in a school's food policy, say researchers at the UI-Chicago.

Children and teenagers are eating more fruit than in the past but still don't consume as much fruit and vegetables as recommended, say scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Republicans asked about local flexibility and Democrats focused on funding when the Senate Agriculture Committee sat down to hear about they sat down to talk about renewal of school lunch and child nutrition programs. Together the programs cost around $19 billion a year with school meals getting $14 billion. The programs are due for reauthorization in 2015.

First Lady Michelle Obama rallied support for healthier school meals during a "kids state dinner" at the White House, saying to students and parents at the meal "you all have a right to expect that your hard-earned tax dollars will be spent on food that meets basic nutrition standards. It's as simple as that," she said in a transcript.

First Lady Michelle Obama told a gathering of middle school students at the White House, "I'm going to fight until the bitter end to make sure that every kid in this country continues to have the best nutrition that they can have in our schools."

The Senate Agriculture Committee opened work on reauthorization of child nutrition programs, including school lunch, with a 90-minute hearing that hailed the role of good nutrition in academic success and long-term health.

The president of the National Parent Teacher Association, Otha Thornton, is among witnesses scheduled for a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on child nutrition programs today at 10 a.m. ET.

First Lady Michelle Obama will fight for healthier school meals and the White House has made the issue a top priority, senior nutrition policy advisor Sam Kass told supporters, according to Obama Foodorama.

Researchers say obesity rates for children ages 2-5 dropped to 8 pct from prev 14 pct in a decade's time, a welcome change from what has been called the U.S. obesity epidemic.

Rural school districts in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, and Ohio are winners of Healthy Meal Initiatives awards for improving the nutritional quality of meals served to students, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. Vilsack announced the awards during a speech to school food directors in which he said healthy school meals could combat the rising U.S. child obesity rate.