With support from the Healthy Kids, Healthy Future Technical Assistance Program (HKHF TAP), Child Care Aware of Kansas (CCAKS) and the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition (KBC) developed the Breastfeeding Friendly Child Care Toolkit in 2020 to promote breastfeeding and support Early Care and Education (ECE) programs to facilitate this healthy practice for mothers and babies. The… Continue Reading Promoting Healthy Practices in ECE through Breastfeeding Support in Kansas
With support from the Healthy Kids, Healthy Future Technical Assistance Program (HKHF TAP), the Iowa Department of Education and state partners found an innovative way to increase participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to provide nutritious meals to eligible children and improve child care quality. Learn More »
Nemours Children’s Health and Healthy Eating Research at Duke University are pleased to announce a new webinar series, “Healthy Kids, Healthy Future: Advancing Equity in Early Childhood.” Through four webinars, this series will explore how to leverage early care and education settings to achieve equitable health outcomes by highlighting opportunities and advances in: Policy Research… Continue Reading Webinar Series: Advancing Equity in Early Childhood
In July 2019, results of the Nemours Children’s Health System’s National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives (ECELC) project were published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease. The ECELC project, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), involved nearly 1,200 child care programs in 10 states. This collaborative is the largest of… Continue Reading ECELC Increases ECE Healthy Practices in 10 States
A March 2019 brief by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, states that NAPSACC (i.e.: Nutrition And Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care) has the “best evidence for impact” on obesity prevention in young children. Developed by the Children’s Healthy Weight Research Group at the UNC Center for Health… Continue Reading NAPSACC Earns Recognition
Physical activity is critical for healthy development in the young, but many children are being left behind. Physical Activity Research Center (PARC) investigators have examined physical activity across built environments, parks and recreation, schools, and rural areas—-all through an equity lens. Years of research tell us there are many influences on young people’s physical activity… Continue Reading How to Improve Physical Activity for Children
Researchers evaluated the association of the 2009 changes to the US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) food package and childhood obesity trends. They hypothesized that the food package change reduced obesity among children participating in WIC, a population that has been especially vulnerable to the childhood obesity epidemic. Before the… Continue Reading WIC Changes and Effects on Childhood Obesity
Children monitored regularly for height and weight are less likely to be overweight, according to research by University of Manchester and Oxford experts. Publishing in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports, the researchers say current practice may fail to spot a large number of children who are a normal weight on school entry but develop obesity… Continue Reading Regular Height and Weight Checks Critical
Leading health organizations call for excise taxes and limits on marketing to children, among other measures; the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Heart Association (AHA) cite strong evidence of association between added sugars and increased risk of heart disease and other long-term health problems. In a joint policy statement, the AAP and… Continue Reading Policies to Reduce Kids’ Consumption of Sugary Drinks
In the United States, the percentage of children and adolescents with obesity has more than tripled since 1970. Today, approximately one in five school-aged children (ages 6 to 19) is obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—and that figure doesn’t include children who are considered merely overweight and not obese. According to… Continue Reading Small Changes Can Go Far in Preventing Childhood Obesity