Childhood obesity rose significantly during the pandemic, according to a new study that analyzed electronic health records for nearly 200,000 young people in the Kaiser Permanente health network in Southern California. The greatest change was among children ages 5 to 11, who gained an average of more than five pounds, adjusted for height, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network. For the average 5-year-old (about 40 pounds), that’s a 12.5 percent weight gain. Read more

The post Obesity among children ages 5 to 11 rises during the pandemic appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

Two new, large studies from England and Mexico provide new details on obesity as a risk factor for poor COVID-19–related outcomes, including death. The study out of England published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, examined data for nearly 7 million English patients 20 years and older with available body mass index (BMI) values registered at an eligible general practice from Jan 24 to Apr 30, 2020. The second study out of Mexico was published in Epidemiology & Infection and analyzed data from 15,529 COVID-19 inpatients and outpatients in Mexico’s 32 states from the National COVID-19 Epidemiological Surveillance Study between Feb 24 and Apr 26, 2020. Read more on the studies

The post Obesity studies highlight severe COVID outcomes, even in young adults appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

The post Child obesity cases treated in hospital have more than doubled in two years, figures show appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

Obesity rates among children jumped substantially in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published online in Pediatrics. Experts worry the excess weight will be a continuing problem for these children. The study looked at a large pediatric primary care network and found the number of patients with obesity increased from 13.7% to 15.4%. Read more

The post ‘Striking’ Increase in Childhood Obesity During Pandemic appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

The TV chef is urging the government to “put health first” and not be “weakened by vested interests”. Jamie Oliver and more than 90 health figures are urging the government to push ahead with proposals to ban all online adverts for foods high in sugar, fat, and salt. Campaigners want the government “to forge ahead with landmark proposals to end almost all unhealthy food and drink adverts online, which will protect children from the influence of junk food marketing”. It is understood the proposals to stop all online adverts for unhealthy food may not go ahead, according to reports in the press. Read more

The post Jamie Oliver calls on the government to stick by plan to ban online junk food ads appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

The Spanish food industry is promoting unhealthy products for breakfast, according to Mireia Montaña Blasco from the Open University of Catalonia, who has undertaken research in response to rising obesity rates in Mediterranean countries. In total, the researcher analyzed 355 advertisements from 117 different products that appeared across Spanish media including the internet, television, radio, print and outdoor advertising.  Among the findings was that a vast majority of those targeted at children had an average sugar content of 36.2% compared to 10.25% for those targeted at adults. In Spain one in three children are overweight and the country has the highest proportion of childhood obesity in Europe. Read more

The post Are high-sugar adverts contributing to obesity in Mediterranean countries? appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

The post Raiding your cupboards like a vending machine? Big Food is feeding our snack addiction appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

Research suggests that an online advert ban will be most beneficial to children whose parents earn the least (and are therefore at increased risk of obesity and other diet-related illnesses), compared to those who earn the most, thus additionally playing a role in reducing socioeconomic health inequalities. Read the article

The post Online junk food advertising: Could banning it tackle obesity? appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

The post UK to ban all online junk food advertising to tackle obesity appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.

Food manufacturers have spent a good part of the past century figuring out how to get kids to convince their parents to spend money, and they’ve gotten very good at it. New York University professor Marion Nestle, who has been following the issue for decades, told me she hears from parents about junk food marketed to children all the time. Read the article here

The post Why we should ban junk-food ads aimed at children  appeared first on Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition.