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Children with developmental or physical disabilities, many of whom face serious health-related conditions, also are affected by the current obesity crisis. Although evidence indicates that children with disabilities have a higher prevalence of obesity than do children without disabilities, little is known of the actual magnitude of the problem in this population. To address this concern, the Eunice Kennedy ShriverNational Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) held a conference on obesity in children with intellectual, developmental, or physical disabilities, bringing together scientists and practitioners in the fields of obesity and disability to foster collaboration, identify barriers to healthy weight status in populations with disabilities, propose avenues to solutions through research and practice, and develop a research agenda to address the problem. This article describes current knowledge about prevalence of obesity in this population, discusses factors influencing obesity risk, and summarizes recommendations for research presented at the conference.

With more sedentary lives and more available food, our waistlines are growing and chronic diseases related to nutrition--like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers--are on the rise. Our diets, although abundant, are relatively less healthy than in the past. In the face of those trends, it is important to learn to make better choices among the multitude of food options in the grocery stores and at meal times. The goal of this project was to create a visual guide to healthy foods to support individuals in making better nutritional choices. The Wise Choices Food Pyramid provides additional visual guidance for an individual wanting to select foods within a food group that would supply the most nutritional benefit. Foods in the Wise Choices Pyramid are ranked, from left to right, within each of the food groups according to their contributions of beneficial and essential nutrients. Keywords: Nutrition, health, health promotion, foods instruction, Table of Contents Abstract Introduction Methods Discussion References Introduction With more sedentary lives and more available food, our waistlines are growing. In many nations, our diets, although increasingly abundant, provide [...]