The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching a new project aimed at confronting the childhood obesity epidemic. The Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project seeks to build on existing community efforts and work to identify effective healthcare and community strategies to promote children’s healthy eating and active living. According to CDC officials, the four-year project will zero in to reach low-income and minority families on childhood obesity.

Here’s a story well worth checking out: ABC News recently looked at the pharmaceutical industry’s reluctance to pursue drugs specifically for treatment of childhood cancers. The central issue is that the numerous types of pediatric cancer mean there would be a small market for any single drug. Subsequently, most of the pharmaceuticals used for cancer patients were developed for adults 30 or even 50 years ago.

Overuse of antibiotics can be counterproductive by permanently getting rid of the body’s “good bacteria.” At least that’s the argument put forth in a recent article in Nature receiving national attention. Some researchers are concerned that overuse of antibiotics could be attributing to increased rates of obesity, asthma and cancer by killing off beneficial bacteria. The contention is that too many doctors prescribe antibiotics for children before determining whether an illness is viral or bacte...

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the high rates of childhood asthma that have baffled the healthcare community? According to researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, things might be complicated by climate change. A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine suggests that, if climate change models hold, childhood asthma-related visits to emergency rooms will witness a 7.3 percent spike in the 2020s.

The health risks of childhood obesity are numerous and well-established, but a recent study examines a concern that might not be so obvious. Researchers indicate that obesity can trigger flare-ups of asthma. Published last month in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the study suggests that heavier kids wind up having to take more medications to control their asthma than peers who aren’t overweight.

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. In a proclamation regarding the designation, President Obama promoted healthy eating choices and greater physical activity for young people. “Our history shows that when we are united in our convictions, we can safeguard the health and safety of America's children for generations to come,” reads the presidential proclamation.

Researchers are stumped by the marked escalation of childhood asthma over the past decade, but there is no shortage of possible reasons for the spike. A recent Miami Herald story runs through the usual suspects of likely culprits, from a genetic disposition to cigarette smoke, but notes that another potential cause is childhood obesity. “It is well known and well documented that patients who are obese are more likely to get asthma in a more severe way,” said Dr.