Parents often worry about whether giving juice to their children is a good idea.  Sure, 100% fruit juice is healthy, but does it contain too many calories for you little ones?  According to a recent analysis of government data, which will be presented at the Experimental Biology meeting this week, fruit juice is an excellent choice for children.

According to the study, kids who drank 100% fruit juice had healthier diets than those who drank no juice, and consumed more key nutrients.  The children also had BMIs (body mass indexes) which were either the same or lower than the non juice drinkers, allaying parents’ fears that juice drinking can make children obese.

The study found that although juice didn’t make the little ones considerably slimmer, it had a much greater effect in the 12 to 18 year old age group.  So what should parents do with this information?  Well – give your child juice of course!  But do it within limits.  Small babies who still drink from a bottle or sipper cup shouldn’t drink juice because of the risk to their teeth from the sugar, but it’s fine for older children.  Make sure you check the label though – a 100% fruit juice is totally different to a fruit juice drink.  Check the back of the packet to make sure that it doesn’t have any added sugar, or all the health benefits could be negated by the sugar content.  Natural fruit sugar is healthy – added white sugar isn’t great.

A recent study in Penn State of preschool children has found that how much lunch your little ones eat alters significantly depending on whether they watch TV while eating or not.
The researchers studied 24 children aged between three and five in a laboratory test, and found that when kids watched TV while eating they ate approximately a third more food.  The children were fed lunch for four days at the lab, two days watching the cartoon and two days not.  They were fed the same lunch each day – pizza, unsweetened apple sauce, baby carrots and milk.  They were also offered an afternoon snack on each day.
The researchers found that the preschoolers who usually ate while watching TV ate around one-third more lunch when they watched TV than when they didn’t.  On the other hand, the kids who never watched TV while eating tended to eat less when they had the opportunity to watch TV. 
Dr Lori Francis, one of the study’s authors, told Emaxhealth.com:  “The study shows that TV viewing can either increase or decrease preschool children’s food intakes and suggests that when children consistently view TV during meals, TV viewing may distract children from normal fullness cues which can lead to overeating in children as it may in adults.”

Choosing healthy foods for yourself and your family is important but sometimes complicated.  The labels on cans and packages can tell you a lot about the foods you buy.  Here are some helpful hints for getting the most nutritious food you can for yourself and your toddler or child:

*Food labels tell you how much fat, sugar, and salt are in the product.  They also show how many calories are in the food per serving and what amount is an average serving size.

*The first ingredient list is its primary ingredient and that ingredient is the greatest one of the ingredients: all other ingredients are “lesser” ingredients, compared to the first ingredient listed.

For example: If a cereal lists sugar before a grain, it will contain more sugar than grain (and less grain than sugar).

*The label will tell you how many grams of fat the food contains per serving and what type of fat it contains.

*Unsaturated fats are better for you than saturated fats.

*Your total fat calories should not be more than 25-30 percent of the calories you eat for the day.

For example: if you eat 2000 calories in a day only 600 should be fat calories.

*Food labels will include information about food additives and also specific ingredients.  It is recommended you limit your intake of some ingredients; such as the flavor enhancer MSG, red dyes and salt.

Read food labels s you can be more sure you are buying and serving food with the highest nutritional value for yourself and your toddler or child.

Campaigners against the advertising of junk food for children are complaining that food companies are trying new ways to get around current laws, such as advertising on the Internet using MSN.

McDonalds has recently signed a deal with Microsoft to produce a ‘Theme Pack’ for MSN messenger, which offers special deals for customers.  McDonalds argue that the pack is used in an opt-in basis, and is not specifically targeted at children. 

A McDonalds spokeswoman told a UK newspaper: “We are one of a significant number of companies offering Theme Packs on MSN. The Theme Packs are intentionally developed on an ‘opt in’ basis, where the user must deliberately select the icon themselves.”
But MSN estimates that it has nearly a million users who are under the age of eighteen, and without parental controls there is no way of stopping children viewing the theme pack. 

Parents would be well advised to monitor their child’s use of the internet, to ensure that their little ones aren’t falling prey to the unhealthy eating messages online.

Your child has always enjoyed learning, but lately doesn’t want to go to school. Mystery illnesses begin popping up and seem to get worse when its time for school. It is likely not the dinner from last night upsetting their tummies; they could be experiencing problems with a schoolyard bully.

Bullies tend to take the fun out of school, and make normal everyday activities scary to the children they bully. Children that are bullied usually experience low self-esteem and depression. Those who bully may engage in destructive or antisocial behavior. Bullies often pick on others to feel powerful or popular. They usually antagonize the same children repeatedly.

86 % of more than twelve hundred 9 – 13 year old boys and girls polled said they have seen someone being bullied, 48 % have been bullied and 42 % have been a bully. If your child is being bullied, you can reduce fear and intimidation by offering your help. If your child is the one bulling, you need to emphasize that this is very unacceptable.

Bullying isn’t often easy to define. A black eye is usually a concrete sign your child is a victim of bullying. There are some other signs you can look for, but are sometimes hard to spot.

Cyber Bullying – This is a new method of bullying. This form of bullying can occur through instant messaging, email, and Internet chat rooms. Other electronic gadgets aid in this as well (for example, camera cell phones). Bullies can forward hurtful images and messages to or about another child.

Emotional Bullying – This can be subtle and can involve excluding a child from activities, or spreading rumors. This type of bullying is more common in girls.

Physical Bullying – This often accompanies verbal bullying. It can involve hitting, biting, kicking, pinching, hair pulling and threats.

Racist Bullying – This is where the bully preys on children through offensive gestures, racial slurs or making jokes about races.

Sexual Bullying – This involves unwanted contact physically or sexually. This includes inappropriate comments.

Verbal Bullying – It involves name-calling, mocking or laughing at the child’s expense.

There are many reasons that children bully. They often choose people that would tend not to retaliate. Children that are insecure or anxious are often seen as easy targets for a bully.

Children may bully due to a difficult situation at home like a divorce. Some signs your child is being bullied are:

• Inventing mysterious illnesses
• Bedwetting
• Missing belongings or money
• Irritability
• Poor concentration
• Problems with school work
• Sleeping problems

You can talk to the school principal about the schools policy on bullying. Help is needed for both sides, the child being bullied as well as the bully.

Sleep-disordered breathing can be an unpleasant problem for children.  It causes them to wake up many times during the night, which can lead to irritability and reduced ability to concentrate.  It is no wonder that parents of affected children look to surgery to provide the answer.  But a recent study suggests that the surgery itself can cause children to gain weight, creating a vicious cycle.

A researcher at the University at Buffalo studied a selection of children between the ages of six and twelve, who underwent surgery to remove their enlarged adenoids.  Enlarged adenoids can be a very aggravating feature in obstructive sleep-disordered breathing (OSDB).

The researcher, Dr Roemmich, found that on average each child increased in weight by thirteen percent. 

“Weight gain in these children is a concern,” said Dr Roemmich.  “Obesity may be a primary cause of OSDB, so additional weight gain may lead to a reoccurrence of obstructed breathing during sleep in spite of the surgery.”

So why did the children gain weight?  Dr Roemmich suggested that it may be to do with the children burning fewer calories.  Difficulty in breathing leads to the lungs working harder, and therefore burning more calories, so this may be one reason.  Dr Roemmich also said that several studies have linked poor sleep patterns with hyperactivity in children.  So once the children sleep better, they fidget less and so burn fewer calories. 

The study concludes that it may be beneficial for children undergoing this surgery to follow a diet and exercise plan, to ensure that weight gain does not occur. 

Some research suggests that children with Downs Syndrome are as active as their peers, but use fewer calories. They have a lower basal metabolic rate, which burns calories for fuel when at rest or sleeping. Taking that one step further, it basically means they use fewer calories throughout the day to accomplish the same amount of activities as their normal peers.

There are three different ways to deal with this difference:

1. Increased activity
2. Limited calories
3. Or both limited calories and increased activity

Focusing on just calories is an option. Unless there are other medical reasons, it may be too risky to limit calorie intake for children less than eighteen years of age.

Focusing on positives and abilities has a far greater effect. Concentrating on physical activity has a lot of positives. There are a variety of physical activities to choose from. Some activities children can try are:

• Join a walking club
• Walk around the block for every hour you watch TV
• Swimming
• Walking, biking or hiking
• Organized sports

The hard part is choosing the activities. A child with downs syndrome has to make the choice to be involved. Sit down and make plans together! This makes it fun. Make a list of three small activities to add into the week. Start with activities that are 99 % achievable. Write them on a calendar. You can make a checklist. For every activity your child does give them praise! You can even give them a treat. For example healthy snacks or even a gold star to put beside each activity they accomplish. This will encourage them to keep up with theses activities. Healthy eating is also a key factor. You really want to watch your child’s daily calorie intake. Your doctor or nutritionist will have ideas to help with that.

Blood pressure or hypertension is the force of blood pushing against the artery walls. Blood pressure is measured by a nurse or health care provider using a blood pressure cup and stethoscope. There are two different numbers recorded when measuring blood pressure:

·     Systolic Pressure. This is the higher number which refers to the pressure inside the artery when the heart contracts and pumps blood

·     Diastolic Pressure. This is the lower number, which refers to the pressure inside the artery when the heart is resting and filling with blood.

Blood pressures change during waking hours, and are lower while sleeping. It is usually higher during or after exercise, and is lower at rest. Feelings like anger, happiness or fear can affect blood pressure. Emotional or physical stress can make blood pressure higher.

The age, weight height and gender can make blood pressure vary if the child has other illnesses, this may change their blood pressure. Children can be anxious in the doctor’s office, being scared to leave their parents. This can affect blood pressure and can give false high readings.  Before determining if your child has high blood pressure the nurse will take their blood pressure several times while they are calm, so that they can get an accurate reading.

Blood pressure is usually low in infancy and tends to rise slowly as the child ages. Boys blood pressure is usually higher than girls. Taller children tend to have higher blood pressure than shorter children.

With high blood pressure, arteries may have a higher resistance against the blood flow, making the heart pump faster to circulate the blood. Stroke and heart attack related to high blood pressure are generally rare in children and adolescents.

Some of the primary factors that lead to high blood pressure in adults and possibly children are the following:

·     Higher blood cholesterol levels

·     Obesity

·     Not exercising

·     Smoking

Here are some secondary causes of high blood pressure in children:

·     Illnesses- Kidneys play an important part in regulating blood pressure; if they are diseased the ability to perform this task diminishes.

·     Using prescription or illegal drugs like steroids or oral contraceptives

·     Being overweight

·     Not being able to move around due to chronic illness

·     Severe pain

Primarily, Hypertension is hereditary. Many children with high blood pressure also have a family member with this disease; this leads us to think that blood pressure is indeed hereditary. There is also a higher incidence of high blood pressure in African American children after 12 years of age.

Diagnostic tests can help determine if the child’s blood pressure is related to an illness. Diagnostic procedures usually include urinalysis and blood tests.

Treatment of high blood pressure will be determined by your child’s doctor based on:

·     Age, medical history and overall health

·     Childs tolerance to medication and therapies

·     Expectations of course conditions

·     Extent of child’s condition

·     Your personal opinion or preference

Examining these facts, the doctor can find ways to lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, improve heart strength, and lower blood cholesterol. These are all important steps in preventing heart disease as an adult. Medications to help control blood pressure are only needed in 1% of the children with high blood pressure. Consult your family doctor for more information.