An Obama-era change to school lunches could be linked to a drop in childhood obesity rates, a new study suggests.
The American Journal of Diseases of Children suggested that a modification of public school lunches that boosted the amount of fruits, vegetables and whole grains students consumed could have lowered the body mass index of a swath of youth.
Dr. Aruna Chandran, social epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and lead researcher on this study, told the Associated Press that making early dietary changes can have lasting effects on children.
"You have the potential to really impact their excess weight gain over the course of their entire childhood," she said.
Over 14,000 students ages 5 to 18 were tracked from January 2005 through March 2020 but there was a significant drop in overall BMI around the time the Hunger Free Kids Act was passed.
In 2010, a study by the American Heart Journal suggested that poor nutritional school lunches were, at least in part, linked to childhood obesity. It noted other factors like decreased physical activity and excessive recreational screen time as contributors to childhood weight gain.
Former first lady Michelle Obama spearheaded the call to make school lunches healthier during the same year.
"The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act does still have impact in adolescents when they have such differences in dietary preferences, and the ability to purchase their own foods compared to younger children," Dr. Lauren Au, assistant professor at the University of California, Davis, told CNN.
Heavy rainfall flooded parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with two communities declaring a state of emergency as water poured into homes, creating moats around their foundations and leading to boat rescues of residents. Concern about a dam listed in poor condition led to more evacuations.
The leading decongestant used by millions of Americans looking for relief from a stuffy nose is no better than a dummy pill, according to government experts who reviewed the latest research on the long-questioned drug ingredient.
Hurricane Lee, still a Category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph, is expected to increase in size but be significantly weaker in the coming days, as it turns north to reach the U.S. East Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The U.S. approved updated COVID-19 vaccines Monday, hoping to rev up protection against the latest coronavirus strains and blunt any surge this fall and winter.
An earthquake has sown destruction and devastation in Morocco, where death and injury counts continue to rise as rescue crews dig out people both alive and dead in villages that were reduced to rubble.
Hurricane Lee whipped up waves of more than 15 feet (5 meters) on Monday as the Category 3 storm cranked through open waters just north of the Caribbean region.
