In January 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture passed a series of regulations designed to make school lunches more nutritious, which included requiring schools to increase whole grain offerings and making students select either a fruit or vegetable with their purchased lunch. However, children cannot be forced to eat these healthier lunches...

Research conducted at Henry Ford Hospital shows that race and possibly genetics play a role in children's sensitivity to developing allergies. Researchers found: African-American children were sensitized to at least one food allergen three times more often than Caucasian children...

Despite the ever-increasing evidence of the health risks associated with using indoor tanning beds, a recent survey conducted on tanning salon operators in the state of Missouri revealed that 65 percent continue to allow kids as young as 10 to use their facilities. The finding was published in the journal Pediatrics...

Teen girls at increased risk of pregnancy reported more regular use of condoms, oral contraception, or both after participating in a youth development intervention. The finding came from a randomized controlled trial published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics. Among the industrialized countries, the highest rates of teen pregnancy and childbearing continue to be registered in the U.S...

Contrary to current belief, routine newborn screening improves the detection of the lethal form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in girls as well as boys, saving lives in both sexes, according to a unique study of CAH during the last 100 years published Online First in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology...

More consistent use of condoms, oral contraception or both was reported by a group of teenage girls who took part in a youth development intervention aimed at reducing pregnancy risk in high-risk adolescents, according to a report of a randomized controlled trial published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication...

New research reveals that most babies who put on weight at a slow rate during their first 9 months do eventually catch up to normal weight by the time they are teenagers, although they will always remain slightly shorter and lighter than their peers...

Doctors are currently getting updated guidelines on diagnosing and treating the millions of children who are afflicted with middle-ear infections, one of the most standard bacterial illnesses kids encounter and one that is usually treated with antibiotics...

Early life stress like that experienced by ill newborns appears to take an early toll of the heart, affecting its ability to relax and refill with oxygen-rich blood, researchers report...

Motor development in children under five years of age can now be tested reliably: Together with colleagues from Lausanne, researchers from the University Children's Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich have determined normative data for different exercises such as hopping or running...

Neuroblastoma, the most common malignant tumor of early childhood, is frequently associated with the presence of MYCN amplification, a genetic biomarker associated with poor prognosis. Researchers have determined that tumors containing MYCN amplification are sensitive to a new class of drugs, BET bromodomain inhibitors...

Licensing and collaboration agreements enable development of enzyme replacement therapy for Homocystinuria, a rare metabolic disorder The University of Colorado (CU) has signed exclusive, worldwide licensing and collaboration agreements with rare-disease research-and-development firm Orphan Technologies Ltd to develop an enzyme replacement therapy for Cystathionine Beta-Syntha...

Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading preventable cause of developmental disorders in developed countries. And fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), a range of alcohol-related birth defects that includes fetal alcohol syndrome, is thought to affect as many as 1 in 100 children born in the United States...

New recommendations on testing and screening newborn children for genetic diseases have been published in the latest policy statements of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG)...

Most people have dabbled in alcohol and maybe even smoked some pot during their teen years, perhaps even something harder. Sharing these stories with your children could save them from making the same mistakes, right? Wrong, according to new research published in the journal Human Communication Research...

Life stress early on such as that experienced by babies who are sick, appears to have an early impact on heart function, affecting the heart's ability to refill with oxygen-rich blood and relax. A group of researchers from Georgia Regents University conducted a study using rat pups, separating them from their mothers for a couple hours everyday...

Research conducted by a team of scientists from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Dr. Nicolas Bazan, Boyd Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, found the novel use of a component of fish oil reduced brain trauma in newborn mice...

Cornell bioengineers and physicians have created an artificial ear - using 3-D printing and injectable molds - that looks and acts like a natural ear, giving new hope to thousands of children born with a congenital deformity called microtia...

New research by Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine and Yale University School of Medicine finds that cultures commonly used to detect bacterial infections in low birth-weight newborns with early onset sepsis may actually overlook some germs...

Children with brain lesions suffered before or around the time of birth are able to use gestures - an important aspect of the language learning process - to convey simple sentences, a Georgia State University researcher has found...