#childhood-obesity-policy

#childhood-obesity-policy

Laura CressTechnology reporter Fiordaliso via Getty Images Children are routinely exposed to adverts for weight loss injections and pills online, according to a report by the children's commissioner for England. It found young people were "routinely bombarded" with ads for products which claimed to change their bodies and appearance, despite this kind of advertising being banned. Dame Rachel de Souza said the posts were "immensely damaging" to young people's self-esteem and called for a ban on social media advertising to children.

The Missing Social Unit From middle school onward, American children don't belong to a "class" in any stable sense. They move continuously - subject to subject, room to room, teacher to teacher. There's extensive discourse around respect, equity, and inclusion. But there's remarkably little structured attention to the actual social life of any group. Because there isn't really a group.

When Lola was eight years old, she went through a massive growth spurt and started developing acne. Her mother, Elise, thought Lola was just growing fast because of genes inherited from her father. But when she noticed that Lola had grown pubic hair too, she was floored. A visit to an endocrinologist in 2023 confirmed that Lola's brain was already producing hormones that had kick-started puberty.

Many other higher-income countries are grappling with rising obesity and diabetes, but the U.S. stands out for how consistently those risks translate into worse cardiovascular outcomes, and how wide the gaps are by income, race, ethnicity, and geography.

After decades of American children routinely receiving polio vaccines, the virus that had doomed many to paralysis was nearly eliminated in the United States. But vaccine avoidance today may allow the crippling disease to return. CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jonathan LaPook talks with David Oshinsky, author of "Polio: An American Story," and with violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, who contracted polio as a child, about how parents opting out of vaccinations for their children could affect polio rates here.

In some counties, vaccination rates increased after the pandemic, which got them past the recommended level of protection. Many more counties decreased their rates though.

Being overweight doesn't just make people more susceptible to chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetesit might also increase their risk of severe influenza and other infections, a new study confirms. The study, published today in the Lancet, suggests that people with obesity may be more susceptible to death and hospitalization from a variety of infections caused by viruses, fungi, parasites and bacteria.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends eight to ten hours of nightly sleep for teenagers. Most get less than seven. There's robust evidence linking nighttime media use to poor sleep. For many teens, nighttime scrolling fills the hours meant for rest. Our work and others' show that more than 70 percent of adolescents say they check their phones after going to bed, and many wake up in the night to respond to notifications.

NPR's global health and development team tells stories about life in our changing world, focusing on low- and middle-income countries also referred to as the Global South. And we keep in mind that we're all neighbors in this global village. NPR receives financial support for this team from the Gates Foundation. NPR is solely responsible for all content. Find more about NPR's standards and practices at NPR.org/ethics, as well as a list of our philanthropic supporters in our annual report.