More than a decade ago, the Obama administration passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 as a way to counter the toll the obesity epidemic was taking on children’s health. The goal was to markedly improve the nutritional value of federal food programs that regularly put free and/or low-cost breakfasts, lunches and snacks on the plates of nearly 30 million American students. Did it work? A new study delivers a resounding yes. “We showed that the annual change in body mass index [BMI] decreased by 10 percent in children and adolescents in America following the implementation” of the law, said study lead author Dr. Aruna Chandran. She is a social epidemiologist and senior scientist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore. What fueled the drop? School-based federal food programs provide “an estimated 50% of students’ caloric intake each school day,” Chandran noted. So, the upshot is that “accessibility to school meals and snacks represents a key opportunity for intervention to combat the childhood obesity epidemic,” she added. In the study, Chandran and her colleagues pored over BMI trends among 14,000 kids between the ages of 5 and 18. As a point of comparison, the investigators focused on two periods of time. The first fell between 2005 and the summer of 2016, before the new law was implemented; the second stretched…  read on >  read on >

Canned tuna is known to contain low levels of mercury, but a new Consumer Reports investigation has found spikes of the neurotoxin in some cans. The organization tested five popular tuna brands, CBS News reported. While the mercury levels were all within U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards, Consumer Reports urged pregnant women to “avoid canned tuna altogether.” FDA guidelines say pregnant women can eat canned tuna in limited quantities. “While canned tuna, especially light varieties, has relatively low average levels of mercury, individual cans can sometimes have much higher levels,” Consumer Reports said. “From can to can, mercury levels can spike in unpredictable ways that might jeopardize the health of a fetus,” said James Rogers, director of food safety research and testing at the independent nonprofit. Mercury can affect neurodevelopment, said CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus. The effects may include impaired brain function and developmental delays in children. If a fetus is exposed to high levels of mercury, it may lead to thinking and memory issues later on, he said. “Young children and pregnant women especially need to keep mercury away from those neurons that are developing,” Agus told CBS News. Consumer Reports tested 10 tuna products from five brands: Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, Safe Catch, StarKist and Wild Planet. The tests included about 30 samples of both albacore and…  read on >  read on >

Parents in the United States may assume baby food is free of impurities, but a recent research review highlights the much different reality: Most foods made for babies and toddlers have some amount of toxic heavy metals. The contaminants include metals, such as lead and arsenic, that can harm brain development, and contribute to learning and behavior problems in children. And they are found in everything from rice cereals to formula to pureed vegetables. It’s an issue that’s been known for decades, yet most parents are probably unaware of it, experts said. “Most people would probably think that, out of all foods, baby food has to be the safest,” said Dr. Sarah Ventre, the lead author on the review and a pediatrician at the University at Buffalo, in New York. But lead, arsenic and other toxic metals exist in the soil and groundwater, finding their way into the food supply, including the products that ultimately end up in baby food. A 2019 study found heavy metals in 95% of baby foods tested. One-quarter contained traces of all four metals researchers assessed: arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury. That study was commissioned by the nonprofit Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF), and included in the new review. Jane Houlihan, research director at HBBF, agreed that the facts surprise parents, who may assume baby food is tightly regulated. “But…  read on >  read on >

Genes may have a strong influence over whether kids develop an eating disorder marked by extremely limited food choices, a new study finds. The study focused on a condition called avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). It’s a relatively new diagnosis that describes people who severely limit the types or quantity of food they eat — but not over body image concerns or a quest for thinness. Instead, food is the center of the issue. People with ARFID may have a strong aversion to various tastes, smells or textures, have little appetite, or may fear choking, vomiting or suffering an allergic reaction if they eat an unfamiliar food (often based on a past experience). Studies suggest it affects 1% to 5% of the population. Yet researchers still know little about the causes. The new study suggests genetic vulnerability plays a major role. Looking at data on nearly 17,000 pairs of twins, Swedish researchers found that genes seemed to explain 79% of the risk of having ARFID. “This strongly suggests that genetic studies have huge potential to help us understand the biological pathways underlying ARFID,” said lead researcher Lisa Dinkler of the Karolinska Institute’s Center for Eating Disorders Innovation in Stockholm. An eating disorders specialist not involved in the study agreed. The findings help affirm that there are biological processes underlying ARFID, said Kamryn Eddy, co-director…  read on >  read on >

American schoolchildren could be getting school lunches that have less sugar and salt in the future, thanks to new nutrition standards announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday. These are the first school lunch program updates since 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What’s different this time is a limit on added sugars, starting in the 2025-2026 school year. Limits would at first target high-sugar foods, including sweetened cereals, yogurts and flavored milks. By fall 2027, added sugars must be less than 10% of total calories a week for school breakfasts and lunches. Sugary grain foods like muffins or doughnuts can’t be served more than twice a week at breakfast. Another example is that an 8-ounce container of chocolate milk must contain no more than 10 grams of sugar under the revised rules. Some popular flavored milks contain twice that amount. “Many children aren’t getting the nutrition they need, and diet-related diseases are on the rise. Research shows school meals are the healthiest meals in a day for most kids, proving that they are an important tool for giving kids access to the nutrition they need for a bright future,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an agency news release. Vilsack said the agency’s goal is to get school guidelines to align with U.S. dietary guidelines for the nearly 30 million…  read on >  read on >

Americans who live near a “food swamp” may have a higher risk of suffering a stroke, a preliminary study finds. A number of studies have looked at the health consequences of living in a so-called food desert — areas with few grocery stores or other options for buying fresh food. Food swamps are different: The term was coined to describe communities where fast food restaurants, convenience stores and other junk-food purveyors heavily outweigh healthier options like grocery stores and farmers’ markets. The new study looked at whether Americans’ stroke risk varies based on how far their county of residence veers into food swamp territory. It turned out it did: Among nearly 18,000 adults age 50 and older, those living in U.S. counties high on the food swamp scale had a 13% higher risk of suffering a stroke, compared to those in areas with more healthy options. Many factors affect stroke risk, and it is hard to separate the importance of food swamps from those other variables, said lead researcher Dr. Dixon Yang, a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. In fact, he said, the food swamp issue is intertwined with other factors in those communities. People living there may have lower incomes, little time or places for exercise, or less access to health care, for example. But food swamps…  read on >  read on >