What Kids Worry About And How to Help

When kids worry, it is most likely about the health of a loved one, according to a new KidsHealth KidsPoll that surveyed 1,154 kids ages 9 to 13 on what they worry about most often.

About 55 percent reported health of a loved one as a top concern. Other top concerns included your future–43 percent; schoolwork, tests or grades–37 percent;  your looks or appearance–37 percent; making mistakes or messing up–26 percent; war or terrorism–25 percent; your friends and their problems–24 percent, and the environment–10 percent.

For more information about what kids worry about and how to help them, go the KidsHealth website.

UF Researchers Provide Holiday Diet Tips

University of Florida (UF) researchers say people don’t have to go no-carb to stay fit during the holidays. In fact, many dieters may be cutting out the wrong foods altogether, according to findings from a UF paper published recently in the “European Journal of Nutrition.”

Dieters should focus on limiting the amount of fructose they eat instead of cutting out starchy foods such as bread, rice and potatoes, report the researchers, who propose using new dietary guidelines based on fructose to gauge how healthy foods are.

There’s a fair amount of evidence that starch-based foods don’t cause weight gain like sugar-based foods and don’t cause the metabolic syndrome like sugar-based foods,” said Dr. Richard Johnson, senior author of the report.  Click here to read more.

Using Rituals to Come Together as a Family

Holidays can be difficult, especially in families where major changes have occurred, such as death, divorce, separation or remarriage. But the potential discomfort of these issues can be worked out through the planning of and the actual holiday ritual process within these families, according to experts at the Cleveland Clinic.

Rituals provide us with the place to be playful, to explore the meaning of our lives and to rework and rebuild our family relationships, the experts said. Rituals reconnect us with our past, define our present and point the way for our future.

To read more, go to the Cleveland Clinic website.

How to Check Out Toy Recalls Involving Lead

If you’re in the midst of holiday shopping and want to know which toys to avoid when it comes to lead content, the Florida Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (FLCLPPP) can help.

The group’s website provides a list, including pictures and descriptions, of products recalled because of high levels of lead. It warns that lead poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body and frequently goes unrecognized.

Click here to check out the recall list.

Strong Self Esteem Equals Less Materialism

At this gift-giving time of the year, it is good to know that kids with healthy self-esteem are much less likely to be materialistic.

In a two-part study of students ages 8-18, reviewed on the KidsHealth.org website, researchers found that low self-esteem boosts materialism, but raising self-esteem makes materialism plunge

To read more about the study, and to find out how parents can build esteem in children, go to the KidsHealth website.

Younger Kids Are Having Peanut Allergy Reactions

A Duke University Medical Center study has found children are being exposed to peanuts and showing signs of life-threatening peanut allergies at much earlier ages than in the past. The researchers urge parents and care-givers to be alert to the trend.

“This should be a wake-up call to all parents of young children,” says Wesley Burks, M.D., chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Duke University Medical Center and the study’s senior author.  “Kids are being exposed to peanuts and having allergic reactions much earlier than they did five or 10 years ago.”

To read more about the study go to the Duke University website.

Wash Your Hands

Celebrate National Hand Washing Awareness Week (December 2- by making sure you wash your hands before preparing or eating food; before and after tending to someone who is sick; before and after treating a cut or wound; after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing; after handling an animal or animal waste; after handling garbage and after going to the bathroom.

Read more on the Orange County Public Health Department website.

Eating Disorders More Common Among Teen boys

Eating disorders, most commonly associated with females, are becoming more common among American boys.

According to a study focused on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, there was a big increase in all types of weight control behaviors among males–including dieting, diet product use, purging, exercise and vigorous exercise–between 1995-2005. Hispanic males were most likely to practice weight control.

Read more from this HealthDay News story by clicking here.