Nutrition

Baby-led introduction of complementary foods is a practice gaining in popularity among families with infants ready for the change from breast milk or formula to table foods, but it must be done in a developmentally appropriate way.

A longitudinal study begun when participants were aged 15 years showed that body mass index (BMI) tends to increase more rapidly over time in individuals who experience food insecurity in their early teenaged years than in those who don’t.

Cutting back on sugar is a good first step to preventing childhood obesity, but a new study cautions parents and providers to think twice about sugar substitutes.

A new study reveals that whereas physical activity can help prevent and combat childhood obesity, eating breakfast every day may have a more significant impact.

To help student athletes perform at their best, emphasize balanced nutrition and conditioning, discourage supplements and stimulants.

A recent study of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) finds more action is needed to ensure healthy nutrition for all low-income children.

Many parents struggle with picky eaters, and it is a common complaint among parents who use federal supplemental nutrition programs, too. Recent research highlights how pediatricians can help.

By the time most of us become parents, we have been pediatricians for a while and do not find parenting all that scary. To get the right dose of empathy, think back to when we first started handling babies-in medical school. Here are some things I tell new parents.

For teenagers’ developing minds and bodies, good food and activity choices are key to appropriate development. A new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals trends that check how US teenagers are doing.

Indeed it does, according to a randomized trial conducted during a 3-year period in England and Wales in more than 1300 exclusively breastfed infants.

A new study reveals that while more teenagers are becoming overweight or obese, fewer are trying to lose weight, although it’s not entirely true which of these trends is more causative.

A new study that asked parents to guess the sugar content in the foods they feed their children showed that families are grossly underestimating how much sweeter foods are than they think.

Infants born to mothers who receive vitamin D supplementation while pregnant are at reduced risk of being small for gestational age and experience improved growth during infancy, with no increased risk of fetal or neonatal mortality and congenital malformation. These were major findings of a systematic review and meta-analysis of 24 randomized controlled trials involving 5405 participants.

A new study reveals that a very low-carbohydrate diet may help improve long-term outcomes for patients with Type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Children who are overweight or obese are potentially at risk for developing diabetes, but there’s more to identifying prediabetes than just obesity.

Pediatricians must do more to protect the next generation of children from the consequences of obesity before it’s too late.

Stressing dieting over healthy eating in teenagers can cause lifelong weight and diet problems than can extend for generations.

Breastfeeding for a minimum of 2 months has a significant protective effect against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), almost halving the risk of its occurrence.

For Contemporary Pediatrics, Dr Bobby Lazzara discusses a recent prospective birth cohort study published in Pediatrics that looked at different feeding methods for infants and whether the methods had any link to asthma.

Diarrhea, abdominal pain, and flatulence following ingestion of milk or products containing milk are common complaints in pediatric practices. The pediatrician needs to be aware of the management of lactose intolerance to help guide a reasonable workup and plan.

A longitudinal study examined the relationship between prenatal or postnatal high-fat, high-sugar diet and symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children who demonstrated either early-onset persistent conduct disorder or minimal conduct problems.

Sales of nutritional supplements continue to rise, and available data indicate that use of these products is fairly common within the pediatric population.

The protective effects of breastfeeding against infections and overweight are reduced or eliminated by antibiotic use early in life, according to a retrospective study in 226 5-year-old Finnish children, almost all of whom had been breastfed for at least 1 month.

In May 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the revamping of the rules for the “nutrition facts” label box on packaged foods, the first major such overall in 20 years.