Ethnic Disparities in Trends in High BMI Among California Adolescents, 2003-2012.

Introduction: Because California is home to one in eight U.S. children and accounts for the highest Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program spending, childhood obesity trends in California have important implications for the entire nation.

Added sugar intake and metabolic syndrome in US adolescents: cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2012.

Objective: To examine the association between added sugar intake and metabolic syndrome among adolescents.

Design: Dietary, serum biomarker, anthropometric and physical activity data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles between 2005 and 2012 were analysed using multivariate logistic regression models. Added sugar intake in grams per day was estimated from two 24 h standardized dietary recalls and then separated into quintiles from lowest to highest consumption.

Effect of the Healthy Schools Program on prevalence of overweight and obesity in California schools, 2006-2012.

Introduction: The Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program (HSP) is a national evidence-based obesity-prevention initiative aimed at providing the schools in greatest need with onsite training and technical assistance (TTA) and consultation with national experts (HSP national advisors) to create sustainable healthy change in schools' nutrition and physical activity environments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of HSP on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in California schools, from HSP's inception in 2006 through 2012.

Methods: We used statewide body mass index (BMI) data collected annually from 5th-, 7th-, and 9th-grade students to determine whether enrolling in the HSP's onsite intervention reduced the prevalence of overweight and obesity in intervention schools (n = 281) versus propensity-score matched control schools (n = 709) and whether increasing exposure to the program (TTA and contact with HSP national advisors) was associated with reductions in the prevalence of overweight and obesity.

Passive commuting and dietary intake in fourth and fifth grade students.

Background: Promoting active commuting by walking or biking to and from school could increase physical activity and reduce obesity among youth. However, exposure to the retail food environment while commuting may lead to greater dietary intake among active commuters.

Purpose: To examine the relationship between commute patterns and dietary intake and quality in elementary students.