School Food that Works
    School Food that Works

    I had the joy this week of visiting the Perspectives Charter School in Chicago and chatting with their students and staff. This low-income public school has many things going right. They have exceptio…

    Chubby Average Predicts Disaster
    Chubby Average Predicts Disaster

    When my wife and I were born, American teenage girls, aged 12 to 17, weighed an average of 118 pounds. Some weighed more and some weighed less. Today, the average has swollen to 130 pounds. And teenag…

    Crippling Our Children
    Crippling Our Children

    What can take otherwise vibrant, healthy teens and permanently give them the lung capacities of 50-year-olds? Air pollution! Perhaps spare the air days should be called spare the children days. The ai…

    Breastfeeding, Bone Density, and Teens
    Breastfeeding, Bone Density, and Teens

    Breastfeeding can help improve mothers' bone density. During the months of nursing, calcium is taken from the bones, and the density decreases - whether or not they are getting plenty of calcium in th…

    Teen girl playing soccer. Exercise bone health are related.
    Got Exercise?

    The symptoms of osteoporosis usually don't start until later in life, but the issue has often been settled by the quality of bones girls build before they ever leave home. (more…)…

    Getting Enough Sleep
    Getting Enough Sleep

    Dr. Greene's take on getting enough sleep... One Key to Happiness, Self-Esteem, and Success The less sleep children get, the more likely they are to perform poorly in school, to become depressed, and …

    The Ghost of Christmas Future
    The Ghost of Christmas Future

    Every day in the United States about 4,400 children try their first cigarette. Look into the future, and about one third of these children are expected to die from their smoking. They've touched their…

    Dieting Causes Kids to Gain Weight?
    Dieting Causes Kids to Gain Weight?

    The more often that children dieted, the more likely they were to become more overweight over the next three years, according to a study of 14,972 children in the October 2003 Pediatrics. Binge eating…

    Help for Depressed Children
    Help for Depressed Children

    About 69 percent of depressed children, aged 6 to 17, improved significantly while taking Zoloft for their depression, according to a study published in the August 27, 2003 JAMA, but data from the stu…

    Sunshine: Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right
    Sunshine: Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right

    Sun exposure during childhood, especially between 6 and 15 years of age appears to protect people from later developing multiple sclerosis, according to a study in the August 9, 2003 British Medical J…

    Football, Heatstroke, and Head Injuries
    Football, Heatstroke, and Head Injuries

    The statistics are in, and happily there were no deaths from heatstroke among U.S. football players during the 2002 season (or so far in 2003), according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports…

    Smoking Rate in Young Girls on the Rise
    Smoking Rate in Young Girls on the Rise

    Young girls are now smoking cigarettes almost as much as young boys are, according to the results of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey released on August 7, 2003. And both boys and girls are using other…

    Let’s Hear It for New York!
    Let’s Hear It for New York!

    A bold move by New York City, home to largest school system in the United States, intends to provide students in New York schools with healthy food designed to taste good. The resolution, passed on Ju…

    Does Paxil Kill Children?
    Does Paxil Kill Children?

    On June 10, 2003 the British government issued a very strong warning about the antidepressant Paxil, called Seroxat in Britain, saying that it "should not be used in children and adolescents under the…

    Couch Potatoes & Screen Potatoes Unpeeled
    Couch Potatoes & Screen Potatoes Unpeeled

    There's good news and bad news. Dramatically good and dramatically bad. Duke University announced on May 28, 2003 the results of their 5-year randomized study on body fat. Two kinds of body fat accumu…

    Obesity: The Yogurt Solution
    Obesity: The Yogurt Solution

    Dr. Greene's take on yogurt and obesity... In an effort to stay slim, many teenage girls forgo dairy products in favor of diet sodas. Ironically, research shows that calcium is important for maintaini…

    Childhood Obesity and Quality of Life
    Childhood Obesity and Quality of Life

    We hear in the news that the percentage of American children who are obese has doubled in the last twenty years, and that the rate of increase continues to rise. Today about 1 in 7 children are obese …

    Organic Lunchbox Challenge
    Organic Lunchbox Challenge

    Dr. Greene on the Organic Lunchbox Challenge... Students I speak with observe that school food is often either unappetizing (overcooked cafeteria veggies) or unhealthy. Tasty junk food at school has b…

    Product Placement: Smoking and the Media
    Product Placement: Smoking and the Media

    Even though advertising for smoking was banned more than 30 years ago, smoking has been going up among teens since 1991. One possible reason? The way smoking now shows up on screen. (more…)…

    Bottled Energy
    Bottled Energy

    I've often heard parents comment, when watching their toddlers or school-aged kids jet giddily around the home (or restaurant), "I wish we could bottle their energy and sell it!" I wish we could, too.…