Kids are what they eat
This is the last installment of a three-part Harvard Medical School series on childhood obesity. Some risk factors for obesity are specific to infants, such as being breastfed less often. But other factors are present throughout children’s lives. Sugary cereals, oversized soft drinks, and quarter-pound cheeseburgers are among the unhealthy food choices kids face daily. There’s no question that junk food, most of it highly processed, and sugar-sweetened beverages are major contributors to the obesity epidemic. “In this case,” said Walter Willett, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and chair of the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition, “the 800-gallon can of Coke in the room really is the 800-gallon can of Coke in the room.” There’s no lack of convincing research — much of it conducted at HMS and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) — demonstrating the solid relationship between such fare and a greater risk of...