Recipe for health Additional Information
For information, statistics, and articles about weight problems in children, go to www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/overweight/ (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
For kid-friendly information about what it means to be overweight and why it matters, see www.kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_fit/nutrition/pyramid.html (Nemours Foundation).
Project M.O.M. (Mothers & Others & MyPyramid) is a new program aimed at helping people make smart food choices for their households. To learn more, visit www.mypyramid.gov/ProjectMOM/ (United States Department of Agriculture).
The University of Minnesota’s Project EAT was designed to study what American teens are eating, how much they’re exercising, and why. Learn more at www.epi.umn.edu/research/eat/.
What’s the Right Weight for Me?
www.kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/thought/fat_thin.html
(KidsHealth for Kids).
Raloff, Janet. 2007. Too little sleep may fatten kids. Science News 172(Nov. 17):318. Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20071117/note13.asp.
______. 2006. Fattening fears. Science News 169(Jan. 14):30. Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060114/note15.asp.
______. 2004. Honey, let’s shrink the kids. Science News Online (Oct. 9). Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041009/food.asp.
______. 2004. When it’s no longer baby fat. Science News Online (April 17). Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040417/food.asp.
Sohn, Emily. 2008. Sweeeet!The skinny on sugar substitutes. Science News for Kids (Jan. 9). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2008/01/sweeeet-the-skinny-on-sugar-substitutes-2/.
______. 2007. Sweet, sticky science. Science News for Kids (March 14). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2007/03/sweet-sticky-science-3/.
______. 2007. Eat out, eat smart. Science News for Kids (Feb. 7). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2007/01/eat-out-eat-smart-3/.
______. 2005. Screaming for ice cream. Science News for Kids (Aug. 10). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2005/07/screaming-for-ice-cream-2/.
______. 2004. Packing fat. Science News for Kids (Oct. 27). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2004/10/packing-fat-2/.
______. 2004. Building a food pyramid. Science News for Kids (Feb. 18). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2004/02/building-a-food-pyramid-2/.
______. 2003. Turning to sweets, fats to calm the brain. Science News for Kids (Sept. 17). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2003/09/turning-to-sweets-fats-to-calm-the-brain-2/.
Power Words
carbohydrate Any of a large class of organic chemicals that contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen—usually with twice as many hydrogen atoms as carbon or oxygen atoms. Green plants produce carbohydrates through photosynthesis. These carbohydrates serve as a major energy source in animal diets. Sugars, starches, and cellulose are all examples of carbohydrates.
epidemic 1. An outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads quickly and widely. 2. Any condition that grows swiftly and hits a broad share of some population (such as an epidemicof childhood obesity).
obesity Excessively overweight. Health care specialists define it not on the basis of pounds, but on how much an individual weighs in relation to his or her height.
overweight Weighing more than is healthy for an individual’s height. Health care specialists define it on the basis of what’s known as body mass index, or BMI. The numerical BMI that’s too high differs for children and adults and is figured out from a
mathematical formula.
statistics A branch of mathematics that deals with the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of numerical data. Statistics is especially useful in drawing general conclusions about a set of data from a sample of those data.
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