By: Christine Finck, MD, FACS, and Melissa Santos, PhD More than 17 million U.S. children and teens live with a common chronic disease that has been stigmatized for years – pediatric obesity. In Connecticut, 15.3% of 10-17 year olds a nd 14.5% of 2-4 year olds suffer from […]
By: Nancy Trout, MD, MPH The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released the Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Obesity, describing the condition for the first time as a common, complex, and chronic disease with multiple potential associated health complications. […]
By: Nancy Trout, MD, MPH For the first time in over 50 years, the White House convened a conference of stakeholders with a goal of ending hunger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity in the U.S. by 2030 – the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and […]
With food insecurity on the rise, Connecticut Children’s developed and launched a new effort to provide fruit and vegetable prescriptions to families visiting the Emergency Department that screen positive for food insecurity. The goal is to meet families’ needs and increase healthy eating by providing a prescription for […]
By: Nancy Trout, MD, MPH For more than two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought devastating loss along with political, economic and social disruption to our nation. While we no longer see televised images of snaking lines of cars containing food insecure families lined up for assistance, food […]
By: Nancy Trout, MD, MPH Sugar sweetened beverages, including sodas, fruit drinks, sport drinks, energy drinks, and sweetened coffees and teas are contributing to an undue level of poor health. Sugary drinks account for approximately 36% of added sugar in the American diet. Because liquid sugar is processed […]
By: Nancy Trout, MD, MPH Most Americans do not follow a healthy dietary pattern. This is the conclusion of the recently released 2020-2025 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The theme of this edition is “make every bite count.” This edition marks the first time […]
By: Nancy Trout, MD, MPH Our American culture promotes obesity. Environmental influences steer us to choose unhealthy foods and eat portion sizes that are far too large. Stores and restaurants are awash in highly processed junk foods that are high in calories and low in nutrients. Junk food […]
