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Friday, March 15, 2013

Thursday, March 14, 2013

UK study: Violence more likely among vets, troops

FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 15, 2010 file photo, a British soldier walks with his machine gun on the roof of a residential house in the village Qari Sahib, Nad Ali district, Helmend province, southern Afghanistan. Young men who have served in the British military are about three times more likely than civilians to have committed a violent offense, researchers reported Friday, March 15, 2013 in a study that explores the roots of such behavior. The research found that merely being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan made no difference in rates of violent crime later on. Instead, a key predictor was violent behavior before enlisting. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

LONDON (AP) ? Young men who have served in the British military are about three times more likely than civilians to have committed a violent offense, researchers reported Friday in a study that explores the roots of such behavior.

The research found that merely being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan made no difference in rates of violent crime later on. Instead, a key predictor was violent behavior before enlisting. Combat duty also raised the risk, as did witnessing traumatic events during deployment or misusing alcohol afterward. Still, the vast majority ? 94 percent ? of British military staff who return home after serving in a combat zone don't commit any crimes, researchers told reporters at a briefing.

The study found little difference in the lifetime rates of violent offenses between military personnel and civilian populations at age 46 ? 11 percent versus almost 9 percent. Among younger men, however, being in the military seemed to make a difference: Nearly 21 percent of the military group under age 30 had a conviction for a violent offense in their lifetime compared to fewer than 7 percent of similarly aged men in the general population, according to British crime statistics.

"The problem is that some of the qualities you want in a soldier are the same ones that get people arrested for violent behavior," said Walter Busuttil, director of medical services for Combat Stress, a British veterans' charity that was not part of the study. Busuttil said many of those recruited into the army are from disadvantaged backgrounds where violence is more common.

The research was published online Friday in the journal Lancet. Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London looked at data from more than 13,800 U.K. military personnel and veterans and compared that to records of violent crimes ranging from verbal threats to assaults and homicides. Some people were followed for up to seven years. Nearly 1,500 women were included, though they were mostly in noncombat roles.

Deirdre MacManus, the study's lead author, said combat experience seemed to matter when they compared violent crime rates among military personnel. "Being deployed in itself wasn't a risk factor for violent offenses but being exposed to multiple traumas, like seeing someone get shot, increased the risk by 70 to 80 percent," she said, compared to someone who hadn't witnessed such a harrowing ordeal.

Researchers said other studies have made similar findings.

Britain currently has some 5,000 soldiers in the NATO-led mission fighting in Afghanistan and it is the second-largest foreign contingent after the U.S. It withdrew its soldiers from Iraq in 2009 after six years. The U.K. Ministry of Defense has been under pressure to develop more mental health programs for veterans after reports of returning servicemen committing crimes, like the 2012 case of an ex-soldier in Leeds jailed for shooting his landlady after fighting in Afghanistan. He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder but had not been monitored or treated.

In the U.S., there have been numerous cases of veterans committing violent crimes, including a Marine charged with killing six people in California last year. Soldiers from a single Army unit in Colorado killed 11 people over a few years after their return home. An Army report in 2009 placed part of the blame on the psychological trauma of fierce combat in Iraq. And this week, a U.S. Senate panel heard women in the military describe sexual assaults by fellow soldiers.

American researchers said it is possible the same links the British study found between fighting in a war and violent crime exist in the U.S. but that there isn't enough data yet.

"For some soldiers, it's hard to stop being a warrior," said Brett Litz, a psychology professor at Boston University who studies veterans' issues. "What happens during a war may be a prescription for a small percentage of men to get into trouble," he said. "They may find it very difficult to switch out of a wartime mindset."

But given the differences between Britain and the U.S., Litz said it was impossible to predict what effects would be seen in the United States. "Maybe the economy is better here, maybe the (department of defense) does a better job with transition, maybe (the) culture is different especially with respect to alcohol," Litz said.

"There will be a lot of returning soldiers who have to be reintegrated and unfortunately there is no quick fix," he said.

____

Online:

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60354-2/abstract

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-03-14-EU-MED-Veterans-Violence/id-92d3ca71ce274b299dcc84f762fb23a7

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Tobacco industry appears to have evaded FDA ban on 'light' cigarette descriptors

Thursday, March 14, 2013

New research from Harvard School of Public Health (HPSH) shows that one year after the federal government passed a law banning word descriptors such as "light," "mild," and "low" on cigarette packages, smokers can still easily identify their brands because of color-coding that tobacco companies added to "light" packs after the ban. These findings suggest that the companies have, in effect, been able to evade the ban on misleading wording?thus still conveying the false and deceptive message that lights are safer than "regular" cigarettes.

In addition, the companies failed to apply for applications to have these products approved as "new products" as called for by the law.

The study was published online March 13, 2013 in Tobacco Control.

"The tobacco industry was found guilty by a federal court in 2006 for deceptively promoting 'light' cigarettes as safer after countless smokers who switched to lights died prematurely, thinking they had reduced their health risks. After a new federal law was passed in 2009 to end the tobacco industry's deceptive marketing practices, the industry has apparently circumvented it by using new and sophisticated ways to deceive consumers and has not sought Food and Drug Administration approval for these products as required by law," said study co-author Gregory Connolly, director of the Center for Global Tobacco Control at HSPH and professor of the practice of public health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

After the U.S. Surgeon General's 1964 report found that cigarette smoking causes disease, tobacco companies began marketing "light" cigarettes with ventilation holes that allowed air to mix with smoke, which the companies said would limit the amount of smoke a person would inhale. However, a 2001 National Cancer Institute (NCI) report found that smokers compensate for the lower smoke yield in "light" cigarettes?and thus ingest as much tar and nicotine as "regular" cigarettes?by smoking more intensely, more often, or by blocking the ventilation holes with their fingers or lips.

In 2006, a U.S. federal court ruled that tobacco companies should be banned from any future use of descriptive words that convey a false health message. The FDA?given the authority to regulate tobacco products in 2009 as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act?subsequently issued its ban.

To see whether the tobacco companies were complying with or circumventing the ban, the HSPH researchers examined retailer manuals from the tobacco company Philip Morris; manufacturers' annual reports filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; national cigarette sales data; and the results of a 2011 national public opinion survey that included questions about smokers' perceptions of their brands being "light" or regular.

The study describes how Philip Morris removed the terms "light," "ultra-light," and "mild" from cigarette packs and substituted new brand names and colors. For example, the "Marlboro Light" brand was renamed "Marlboro Gold," "Marlboro Mild" was renamed "Marlboro Blue," and Marlboro Ultra-light" was renamed "Marlboro Silver." Other tobacco companies made similar changes. The cigarettes themselves remained unchanged, however; the percentage of ventilation in each category of "light" sub-brands was the same after being renamed and given a new color descriptor. Ventilation is the principle determinant of whether a cigarette is called "light."

In addition, the study notes that a Philip Morris brochure for retailers stated, "Some cigarette and smokeless packaging is changing, but the product remains the same. For trade use only: not to be shown or distributed to consumers."

In the public opinion survey, more than 90% of the smoker respondents said that, one year after the FDA ban, they found it either "somewhat easy" (10%) or "very easy" (82%) to identify their usual brand of cigarettes?in other words, they still thought of certain brands as "light" even though the packages did not use the "light" descriptors.

"This study demonstrates the continued attempts of the industry to avoid reasonable regulation of tobacco products. Scrutiny is needed by the FDA and courts to ensure that tobacco manufacturers comply with the law and that their products no longer convey false impressions of reduced risk," said study co-author Hillel Alpert, research scientist in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

The results will be presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Nicotine and Tobacco research on March 14, 2013 in Boston.

###

Harvard School of Public Health: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu

Thanks to Harvard School of Public Health for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127301/Tobacco_industry_appears_to_have_evaded_FDA_ban_on__light__cigarette_descriptors

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Pelosi Stretches an Old McConnell Quote

Rep. Nancy Pelosi seized on an old talking point, miscasting a now-famous quote by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in 2010 about the goal of making Obama a ?one-term president.?

On CNN?s ?State of the Union? on March 10, host Candy Crowley asked the leader of the House Democrats if President Barack Obama?s stated commitment to helping return the House to Democratic power, with Pelosi at the helm, wasn?t the same as McConnell?s comment about his goal of making Obama a one-term president. Crowley was referring to comments Obama made at the House Democratic Issues Conference on Feb. 7 in which he praised the work of Democratic elected officials and concluded his remarks by saying, ?And as a byproduct of doing that good work and keeping that focus, I would expect that Nancy Pelosi is going to be Speaker again pretty soon.?

Crowley: Isn?t that kind of the same thing?

Pelosi: No, it is completely different, but thank you for the question. It?s completely different, because when Mitch McConnell said that, he was talking about stopping, obstructing initiatives to create jobs, stopping initiatives that would show bipartisanship on the part of the president.

He wanted to show ? they want to show that he couldn?t come to agreement with the Republicans simply ? it didn?t matter what the subject was, they were not going to support it.

Although McConnell?s comment was often cited by Democrats during the 2012 campaign as evidence of Republicans? refusal to compromise as a strategy to regain the White House, a review of McConnell?s fuller comments suggests Pelosi and others read more into McConnell?s words than was actually said.

Here?s what McConnell said in an Oct. 23, 2010, Q&A interview with the National Journal just prior to the midterm elections.

McConnell: We need to be honest with the public. This election is about them, not us. And we need to treat this election as the first step in retaking the government. We need to say to everyone on Election Day, ?Those of you who helped make this a good day, you need to go out and help us finish the job.?

National Journal: What?s the job?

McConnell: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.

National Journal: Does that mean endless, or at least frequent, confrontation with the president?

McConnell: If President Obama does a Clintonian backflip, if he?s willing to meet us halfway on some of the biggest issues, it?s not inappropriate for us to do business with him.

National Journal: What are the big issues?

McConnell: It is possible the president?s advisers will tell him he has to do something to get right with the public on his levels of spending and [on] lowering the national debt. If he were to heed that advice, he would, I imagine, find more support among our conference than he would among some in the Senate in his own party. I don?t want the president to fail; I want him to change. So, we?ll see. The next move is going to be up to him.

McConnell?s fuller comments ? including the vow to work with Obama ?if he?s willing to meet us halfway on some of the biggest issues? and his statement that ?I don?t want the president to fail; I want him to change? ? contradict Pelosi?s claim that McConnell was speaking in the context of opposing any bipartisan initiatives or that he was outlining a position that Republicans would not support the president no ?matter what the subject was.? One can argue about whether that turned out to be a Republican strategy or not, but that?s not what McConnell said.

In a speech at the Heritage Foundation just after the 2010 midterm elections, McConnell expanded on his comments:

McConnell, Nov. 4, 2010: Over the past week, some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office. But the fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill; to end the bailouts; cut spending; and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things is to put someone in the White House who won?t veto any of these things. We can hope the President will start listening to the electorate after Tuesday?s election. But we can?t plan on it.

In other words, McConnell was making the point that in order for the Republican Party to achieve the majority of its agenda, it would have to regain the White House. And Obama was making the point that voters would reward Democrats at the polls, if the party gets a chance to achieve the majority of its agenda. We leave it to the reader to judge how similar, or not, the statements by McConnell and Obama are. The fact is, without full control of Congress and the presidency, neither side can get everything it wants.

? Robert Farley

In Silicon Valley, rich get richer and poor get poorer

Martha Mendoza , The Associated Press ? ? ? 9 hrs.

On a morning the stock market was sailing to a record high and a chilly storm was blowing into Silicon Valley, Wendy Carle stuck her head out of the tent she calls home to find city workers duct taping an eviction notice to her flimsy, flapping shelter walls.

"I have no idea where I'm going to go," she said, tugging on her black sweatshirt over her brown curls and scooping up Hero, an albino dog.

She glanced at the glimmering windows on a cluster of high-tech office buildings just blocks away and shook her head.

"Did you know Google shares hit $840 each this morning?" she asked. "I just heard that on the radio."

Carle, who did not want to give her age, used to manage apartments. Today she lives on a Supplemental Security Income disability payment of $826 a month due to back and joint problems.

The Silicon Valley is adding jobs faster than it has in more than a decade as the tech industry roars back. Stocks are soaring and fortunes are once again on the rise.

But a bleaker record is also being set this year: Food stamp participation just hit a 10-year high, homelessness rose 20 percent in two years, and the average income for Hispanics, who make up one in four Silicon Valley residents, fell to a new low of about $19,000 a year? capping a steady 14 percent drop over the past five years, according to the annual Silicon Valley Index released by Joint Venture Silicon Valley, representing businesses, and the philanthropic Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Simply put, while the ultra-rich are getting even richer, record numbers of Silicon Valley residents are slipping into poverty.

Related: In Plain Sight: Poverty in America

"In the midst of a national economic recovery led by Silicon Valley's resurgence, as measured by corporate profits and record stock prices, something strange is going on in the Valley itself. Most people are getting poorer," said Cindy Chavez, executive director of San Jose-based Working Partnerships USA, a nonprofit advocating for affordable housing, higher minimum wages and access to health care.

Nowhere is this growing disparity more obvious than this sprawling and trash-strewn 28-acre tent city that authorities are trying to clean out. Beneath the sweeping shadow and roar of jets soaring in and out of nearby San Jose's international airport, residents here say times are so tight they have nowhere else to turn.

"This is the most ridiculous place ever," said Kristina Erbenich, 38, clambering onto her bike, a heavy pack on her back. The former chef said she spent $14,000 on hotel rooms before her savings ran out. "If everyone around here is so rich, why can't they do something to help?"

United Way Silicon Valley CEO Carole Leigh Hutton wonders the same thing.

"How is it that in an area so very rich, we have so many people so very poor? Why can't we break that cycle? With all the brain power in the Silicon Valley, we should be able to solve these problems. But what we need is the collective will."

High cost of living
The causes for the growing disparity are complex, but largely come down to one thing: a very high cost of living. The median home price is $550,000, and rents average just under $2,000 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in this region that is home to many of the nation's wealthiest companies including Facebook, Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Google. For a family of four, just covering basic needs like rent, food, child care and transportation comes to almost $90,000 a year, according to the nonprofit Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

"The fact is that we have an economy now that's working well only for those at the very top," said Lawrence Mishel at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington D.C. "Unless we adopt a new approach to economic policy, we're going to continue going down this path, which means growth that does not really benefit the great majority of people in this country."

Nationally, Mishel says the declining value of the federal minimum wage is a major factor driving inequality. On Monday, in an effort to address this, minimum hourly wages will rise from $8 per hour to a new minimum of $10 per hour, the nation's largest minimum wage increase approved by voters last fall. While it's a dramatic shift for tens of thousands of workers, it's a minuscule fraction of the increases top earners in the region enjoyed last year.

Silicon Valley's top tech magnates inched up on Forbes' annual list of the richest people on the planet: Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison had a reported net worth of $43 billion, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin had about $23 billion each, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, was worth an estimated $13.3 billion, and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, had an estimated worth of $10.7 billion.

"The wealth numbers are staggering, they are absolutely staggering," said Alf Nucifora, who chairs the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco

One in five ultra-wealthy Americans, defined by having a net worth above $30 million, lives in California, stoked by the "wealth-generating cluster" of the Silicon Valley, according to WealthX, a company that tracks the super-rich. Stanford University, in Palo Alto, boasts 1,173 alumni with a net worth of more than $30 million ? only Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania have more.

"The Silicon Valley is an ecosystem of human capital, venture capital, risk, an educational infrastructure," says WealthX president David Friedman. "All of those things combine into this glorious cocktail of prosperity."

'We need help'
But many residents, even those with college educations, are finding it tougher than ever to make it in the Silicon Valley.

Before the Great Recession, about 10 percent of people seeking food had at least some college education. Today, one in four who line up at food pantries for bags of free food have been to college. Last year the share of households in Silicon Valley earning less than $35,000 rose two percentage points to 20 percent, according to the 2013 Silicon Valley Index.

"There are millionaires, even billionaires, who sit in their sunrooms watching me work in their gardens and they have no clue what's going on," said Sherri Bohan, a credentialed horticulturist who ran a landscape gardening firm for 30 years and raised two sons as a single mom. Today, retired and disabled, she picks up a free bag of groceries every week at her local food bank. Without the food, she says she would go hungry.

Silicon Valley's rich do give, and often significantly, but the money mostly leaves the area. Facebook's Zuckerberg gave $100 million to Newark N.J., public schools in 2010; his $500 million gift to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation last year has yet to be designated. The Google Foundation donated about $11 million in 2011, according to its tax forms, largely to global environmental and health projects.

"Many people come here to work, but they have no idea what's really going on," said Lisa Sobrato Sonsini, whose Sobrato Family Foundation ? funded by profits gained as a leading real estate and development firm in the region ? is the single largest contributor to local charities in the region. "The companies are generous, but they don't see the need directly in front of them, they want to send their money away."

Phyllis Kizer, a long time high-tech business analyst, is disturbed by the challenges people in her community face.

"Looking at myself, I'm very well paid for what I do, I have no complaints," she said.

Once a week, Kizer heads to a low-income school where she sits with children, including recent immigrants, helping them learn to read.

"I love books, and I love teaching," she said. "I wanted to pass that on. Some of these children, they can really go far, but we need to help."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/silicon-valley-rich-getting-richer-poor-getting-poorer-1C8813698

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It's all in the way we move: Bone form and locomotor behavior in bipedal and quadrupedal marsupials

Mar. 13, 2013 ? When, how and why modern humans first stood up and walked on two legs is considered to be one of the greatest missing links in our evolutionary history. Scientists have gone to the far ends of the Earth -- and the wonderful creatures in it -- to look for answers to why we walk the way we walk.

In the latest such search, researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (South Africa) have taken a closer look at bipedal kangaroos and wallabies and how they move compared to their cousin-marsupials, such as the quadrupedal Tasmanian wolf.

In an article published online in the scientific journal PLoS ONE on 12 March 2013, the researchers examine connections between bone form and locomotor behaviour in bipedal and quadrupedal marsupials. Read the article here

The study was led by Dr Kristian Carlson, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Human Evolution (IHE) at Wits University. Contributing authors include: Dr Tea Jashashvili, Postdoctoral Fellow at the IHE at Wits University; Kimberley Houghton, MSc candidate at the IHE at Wits University; Dr Michael Westaway from the Queensland Museum (Australia); and Dr Biren Patel from the University of Southern California (US).

Their article is entitled Joint loads in marsupial ankles reflect habitual bipedalism versus quadrupedalism. The research demonstrates that bipedal marsupials, such as kangaroos and wallabies, experience greater forces through their hind limb joints (e.g., ankles) when walking, compared to other marsupials that walk on four legs.

The study has several important implications in the area of research known as functional morphology.

Characterising forces that joints experience during movement is imperative to understanding how the joints of animals function and facilitate such movements. Documenting these forces, however, is extremely difficult for practical reasons.

Using physical instruments to measure joint forces is impossible without altering the natural movements of animals. By combining computed tomography (CT) and image analyses, the team of researchers was able to estimate joint forces in a non-invasive, accurate manner.

As the group predicted at the outset of the study, marsupials supporting their body with only two hind limbs during movement sustain higher estimated forces in their joints compared to marsupials that support their body with all four limbs during movement. This finding offers insight into the structural uniqueness of hind limb joints (e.g., ankles) of bipedal marsupials.

Members of the team are currently expanding the published study into the next phase of a larger project by documenting the same phenomenon in primates in order to investigate whether bipedal humans differ from related quadrupedal primates in parallel (or different) ways as bipedal marsupials differ from related quadrupedal marsupials.

By comparing analogous systems in primates and marsupials, team members will garner potentially new insights into the mechanics of human bipedalism. Such insights will advance current understanding of the morphological adaptations expressed by our distant hominin ancestors (e.g., australopithecines).

These insights will prove particularly timely considering the emerging trend in recognizing substantial variation in the form of bipedalism expressed by our hominin ancestor.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of the Witwatersrand.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Kristian J. Carlson, Tea Jashashvili, Kimberley Houghton, Michael C. Westaway, Biren A. Patel. Joint Loads in Marsupial Ankles Reflect Habitual Bipedalism versus Quadrupedalism. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e58811 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058811

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/kYcOsEgJTjE/130313112422.htm

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Structured weight loss program helps kids from low-income families lower BMI

Public release date: 13-Mar-2013
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732-238-3628
Elsevier Health Sciences

According to new study in Academic Pediatrics

Philadelphia, PA, March 13, 2013 Overweight and obese children in low-income households can meet or exceed the Expert Committee Recommendations Regarding the Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment of Childhood and Adolescent Overweight and Obesity when given access to a structured weight management program, according to a new study published in Academic Pediatrics.

The epidemic of overweight and obesity in the United States affects children, particularly those in low-income families, where they are at higher risk due to unhealthy diets and consumption of higher calorie, high-fat foods and sweetened drinks with limited opportunities for daily physical activity. If left untreated, these conditions are likely to extend into adulthood, placing the child at higher risk for obesity-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

The state of Tennessee has struggled with this issue and ranked fifth highest for child obesity in the 2007 National Children's Health Survey. The year before, Tennessee Medicaid (TennCare) partnered with the international commercial weight loss program, Weight Watchers, to help treat obesity. Through the TennCare Weight Watchers Partnership Program overweight and obese TennCare recipients under the age of 21 were able to participate with no out-of-pocket cost.

A group of researchers led by the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, CO evaluated the weight change of 280 qualified participants aged 10 to 17 years old, who were referred by their health care providers to participate in the program.

"We hypothesized that individuals who participated in the program would have a reduction in body mass index (BMI) z score significantly greater than zero and that there would be no difference in the reduction in BMI z score between boys and girls," says Nia S. Mitchell, MD, MPH, lead investigator and assistant professor of general internal medicine at CU School of Medicine and CU's Anschutz Health and Wellness Center and Colorado Health Outcomes. "As secondary analyses, we also determined if there was a threshold of participation, in duration or number of meetings, which might be associated with clinically significant weight loss." Use of a BMI z score is the optimal way to measure weight change in children.

The team also compared weight change to the Expert Committee Recommendations Regarding the Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment of Childhood and Adolescent Overweight and Obesity.

By the end of their participation in the program, the weight change in 53 percent of the children either met or exceeded the recommendations of the Expert Committee. Participants who attended the program for more than 12 weeks and those who attended ten or more meetings saw a five percent decrease in BMI z score. More than half the participants attended eight or fewer weekly meetings, while nearly 30 percent attended ten or more.

While it is difficult to define significant weight loss in children because they are still growing, the study demonstrated that a clinically significant change in BMI z score was achieved by the 25 percent of those who participated in the program for more than 12 weeks.

Says Dr. Mitchell, "Our analysis suggests that the TennCare Weight Watchers Partnership Program was associated with a majority of participants meeting the recommendations of the Expert Committee. Providers should, therefore, consider referring their patients to similar structured programs." The study team also points out that this type of partnership can give low-income families the opportunity to give their children a good chance for weight management success.

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Structured weight loss program helps kids from low-income families lower BMI

Public release date: 13-Mar-2013
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Contact: Eileen Leahy
acadpedmedia@elsevier.com
732-238-3628
Elsevier Health Sciences

According to new study in Academic Pediatrics

The team also compared weight change to the Expert Committee Recommendations Regarding the Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment of Childhood and Adolescent Overweight and Obesity.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/ehs-swl031213.php

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