Establishing an easy and fun health regimen keeps kids going strong 

 Let's Move! Child Care EMPOWERS child care providers to make positive health changes in children, early on, that will last a lifetime. Let's Move! Child Care aligns with the ADHS Empower program and ADHS proudly supports this great initiative. Let's Move! Child Care gives the support providers need by providing tools and resources for healthy eating and active living in child care centers and homes. Visit their site and become a champion for healthy choices by joining Let's Move! Child Care for free resources and information. 

 Grow It, Try It, Like It! Preschool Fun with Fruits and Vegetables is a garden-themed nutrition education kit for child care center staff that introduces children to: three fruits - peaches, strawberries, and cantaloupe, and three vegetables - spinach, sweet potatoes, and crookneck squash. 

 Letter From the Secretary of EducationDear Friends:Delaware, like most other states, struggles with an obesity epidemic thatextends to its youngest citizens. To address both obesity prevention andmalnourishment issues, while promoting the health and development of allchildren, the Delaware Department of Education Child and Adult Care FoodProgram (CACFP) partnered with the Delaware Office of Child CareLicensing (OCCL) to develop higher standards for nutrition and physicalactivity. Currently, OCCL requires all licensed child care programs tocomply with DE CACFP guidelines, whether or not they participate in the CACFP meal program.Therefore, all food served in Delaware-licensed child care, including after school programs,must meet or exceed the CACFP requirements (more) 

• To access information on diabetes prevention and control programs (DPCPs) for a specific state, click on that state in the map or go to the alphabetical state list.
• U.S. territories and island jurisdictions with DPCPs
• Information on state laws and diabetes

    Introduction To identify anthropometric and fitness correlates of elevated blood pressure, serum cholesterol, and glycated hemoglobin, we examined anthropometric and physiologic biomarkers among racial/ethnic minority children aged 11 to 13 years in two urban Los Angeles middle schools. We explored the potential for using obesity or fitness level as screening variables for cardiovascular disease risk factors in these students. Methods During regularly scheduled physical education classes, we collected data on demographic characteristics, height, weight, blood pressure, nonfasting total serum cholesterol, glycated hemoglobin, time to run/walk 1 mile, and a range of self-reported behaviors. A total of 199 sixth-graders (121 Latinos, 78 African Americans) participated in the study. Results Bivariate analyses indicated that 48.6% of sixth-graders were of desirable weight, 17.5% were overweight, 29.9% were at risk for overweight, and 4.0% were underweight. Higher weight was associated with higher levels of serum cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure (P values for all associations <.02) but not with glycated hemoglobin. Multivariate analyses maintained the findings with regard to blood pressure but not serum cholesterol. Conclusion Overweight status could be a screening variable for identifying youth at risk for high blood pressure. Obesity prevention and intervention programs and policies need to target low-income racial/ethnic minority children. Assessment of hypertension status also seems warranted in low-income racial/ethnic minority sixth-graders, as does early intervention for children at high risk.

 Healthy eating patterns in childhood and adolescence promote optimal childhoodhealth, growth, and intellectual development; prevent immediate health problems, such as iron deficiency anemia, obesity, eating disorders, and dental caries; and may prevent long-term health problems, such as coronary heart disease, cancer, and stroke. School health programs can help children and adolescents attain full educational potential and good health by providing them with the skills, social support, and environmental reinforcement they need to adopt long-term, healthy eating behaviors. This report summarizes strategies most likely to be effective in promoting healthy eating among school-age youths and provides nutrition education guidelines for a comprehensive school health program. These guidelines are based on a review of research, theory, and current practice, and they were developed by CDC in collaboration with experts from universities and from national, federal, and voluntary agencies. The guidelines include recommendations on seven aspects of a school-based program to promote healthy eating: school policy on nutrition, a sequential, coordinated curriculum, appropriate instruction for students, integration of school food service and nutrition education, staff training, family and community involvement, and program evaluation.

   Describe the Chicago Southeast Diabetes Community Action Coalition (CSDCAC) as a model of integrated community health approaches  

 What is cancer?The body is made up of hundreds of millions of living cells. Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person's life, normal cells divide faster to allow the person to grow. After the person becomes an adult, most cells divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells or to repair injuries. Cancer begins when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. There are many kinds of cancer, but they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells. Cancer cell growth is different from normal cell growth. Instead of dying, cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also invade (grow into) other tissues, something that normal cells cannot do. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell.

Cancer Facts & Figures 2008.To Access Report Click Here