Children whose mothers were exposed to second-hand smoke while they were pregnant have more symptoms of serious psychological problems compared to the offspring of women who had no prenatal exposure to smoke, according to a new University of Washington study.
Kids and Junk Food Advertising Study
In a child’s buffet of food commercials, more than 40 percent of the dishes are candy, snacks and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood.
For years, health officials have warned that kids were being inundated with commercials about not-so-healthy foods. Now, researchers have put numbers to those warnings in the largest-ever study of commercials aimed at children.
AMA Stops Short of Classifying Excessive Video Gaming as “Addiction”
An AMA report prepared for the American Medical Association’s annual policy meeting had proposed including video game addiction in a manual of psychiatric illnesses.
The report was prepared by the AMA’s Council on Science and Public Health.
After some debate, the organization declared that more study is needed before classifying excessive video gaming as an addiction.
The organization acknowledged that over-use of video games can certainly be a problem for both children and adults. The report indicated that children who start playing video games earlier, are more likely to become hooked on video gaming.
According to the report, up to 90 percent of American youngsters play video games and that more than 5 million of them may be addicted.
Source: American Medical Association