Reuters - Americans are fatter than ever, with obesity rates up in most states and fewer people exercising, according to a study released on Monday.

A U.S. study, published in the journal Obesity, finds that parental stress or bullying by peers can make it even tougher for overweight or obese children to live a healthy lifestyle.

"If a parent is distressed, that seems to impact a child's symptoms of depression, which then impacts quality of life. It's the same with peer victimization. It impacts depression, which then impacts quality of life. And it seems to affect not just the emotional aspect of quality of life, but also their health status," lead author David Janicke, assistant professor of clinical and health psychology in the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, in Gainesville, said in a prepared statement.

In the study, in which 96 overweight or obese children and their parents were surveyed, youngsters (whose parents were stressed/depressed) had a lower overall quality of life. Ditto for kids struggling with negative peers.

"One of the pathways to poor quality of life seems to be childhood depression," Janicke noted. He said parental support is critical in helping children make healthy lifestyle choices.

Janicke suggests that support for distressed parents may be one avenue for helping overweight/obese children.  He theorizes that parents who struggle with with stress or depression may not have the emotional capacity or energy reserve to provide support, model healthy eating, or promote fitness activities for their children. Researching more about these contributing parental factors may help to find more ways to treat overweight children, he added.

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases outlines what parents can do to help overweight children, including encouraging daily physical (and fun) activity, role modeling, healthy eating habits, and more.  However, putting your child on a diet is NOT a good idea.  Read 'Healthy Eating - What If Diet Foods Make You Fat?' for more information on why diet foods may actually lead to overeating in children.

By Laura Brooks

Tags: overweight children, parental stress, healthy lifestyles, healthy eating.

AP - A man who weighed 558 pounds when a Missouri judge prevented him from adopting a child he and his wife had taken into their home underwent gastric bypass surgery Friday in a bid to win the child back.

HealthDay - FRIDAY, Aug. 24 (HealthDay News) -- As children get ready to head back to the classroom, a new study finds school absenteeism is higher among overweight kids.

HealthDay - FRIDAY, Aug. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity doesn't mean a person is destined to develop diabetes, experiments in mice suggest. Instead, it may all depend on where the fat is stored.

Reuters - The heavier a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the less likely she is to stick with breast-feeding long-term, a new study from Denmark shows.

When I think back to my youth, I realize that a lot of my body dissatisfaction began in adolescence (if not earlier).  I remember leafing through magazines and feeling depressed at how fat I thought I was compared to the models or featured celebrities, and I know I'm not alone in this reaction.

In fact, over the years, many studies have been conducted to gauge the effect of the media on impressionable young girls. In a 2004 study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing called "Adolescents' perceptions of popular teen magazines" concluded that that teen magazines send the message of perfection 'by portraying models with perfect eyes, teeth and bodies.'

The magazines provide ideals of thinness which are presented in a seemingly attainable fashion. Participants stated that magazines suggest that adolescent women need male attention for protection and companionship, in order to achieve fulfillment. Being healthy or whole seemed to be dependent on the adolescent reader embracing and becoming the ideals portrayed in teen magazines.  (Abstract from Blackwell Synergy)

Although it seems to be a no-brainer that being bombarded with images of perfect beauty and thinness contribute to girls' negative body images, studies such as these may be finally prompting some teen magazines to start becoming part of the solution.

Seventeen Magazine's new 'girl' as of January 2007, Editor-in-Chief Ann Shoket, may be a refreshing new influence.  Shoket, who posts daily on 'Ann's Blog', is launching a 'Body Peace Treaty' aimed to encourage teen girls to make peace with their bodies.  On a recent entertainment news segment, Shoket said that it was probably too much to ask girls to 'love their bodies', but that she hope the treaty will help girls to stem their self-criticism.

The idea for the Body Peace Treaty came to Shoket who overheard a conversation by two teens trying on jeans dressing room.  "'They make my butt look big'," Shoket overheard one girl lament. "It was such a heartbreak for me." The treaty, which will be online and in print, asks girls to vow not to obsess over their body shape, but rather "respect it for what it can do, treat it well and feed it well."

Shoket hopes to get a million girls to sign the treaty.  However, it remains to be seen if this new approach really have any positive effect on teen girls' body image or ends up just being cosmetic good will gesture.   The inherent problem of introducing such a treaty is that it does little to counteract the overall emphasis on beauty standards. For instance, Shoket doesn't say that the magazine will balance images of 'perfect' models with more realistic portrayals of women. And, notably, the August issue of Seventeen Magazine features an article on "The Best Jeans for Your Butt—And Budget!" Will articles such as these help those teens from the dressing room to stop obsessing about their bodies? Even if the treaty is a step in the right direction, a consistent message of body acceptance in both print and pictures is probably the only way to make a real - and lasting - difference.

By Laura Brooks

Tags: body image, negative body image, body peace treaty, Ann Shoket

AFP - Australian researchers have found a fatty diet damages eggs in the ovaries and prevents them from becoming healthy embryos, a finding they say may explain why obese women are often infertile.

AFP - Bread and potatoes are sources of human energy, and now a carbohydrate diet is also powering up a Walkman.

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Parental stress or bullying by peers can make it even tougher for overweight or obese children to get healthy, a U.S. study finds.