Nutrition

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.

Nutritional deficiencies may play a role in the development and/or perpetuation of migraines in children, according to a new study, but further research is needed to determine if supplementation would help.

Do you really want to supersize that baby? Bottle size is significantly associated with the volume of formula an infant consumes.

Patients often want to make big changes to improve their health. However, there often is a disconnect between wanting to make a change and the ability to carry the change through and make it a habit.

The popularity of gluten-free diets continues to grow as people increasingly turn to diet as a way to manage copious symptoms from gastrointestinal disturbances, which can range from headaches to skin rashes, behavioral problems, and psychological difficulties.

Both mode of delivery and feeding method are significantly associated with intestinal microbial community composition, according to a study in 102 full-term infants, whose gut microbiota investigators analyzed using stool samples taken at the age of 6 weeks.

Although sweeping changes to school lunch programs a few years ago were-and still are-contested, a new study reveals that the new lunch standards have resulted in better nutrition delivered through less calories.

Results of a recently published study show higher intake of food-based vitamin D by expectant mothers reduces the risk of childhood allergic rhinitis.

Breastfeeding mothers can supply enough vitamin D in their milk to satisfy their infants’ requirements by taking 6400 IU of vitamin D each day, a 6-month randomized trial among mothers of exclusively breastfed babies showed.

Breastfeeding may not make smarter babies, according to a new report from the UK, but CDC says it still makes healthier babies overall and hospitals have more work to do in order to provide optimal support for nursing mothers.

Malnutrition among pediatric patients is an ongoing problem that is often underdiagnosed. A new report examines alternate methods for recognizing malnutrition beyond anthropometric percentiles.