http://www.bu.edu/professorvoices/

According to Salge Blake:

“Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment as well as from contamination by humans. Inorganic arsenic is the harmful kind, so just like with cholesterol, getting a measurement of total arsenic doesn’t say very much.

“The FDA has been tracking the potential contamination in apples and other juices for years and concludes that there is no evidence of any public health risk from drinking apple juice.

“However, on another note, children ages 2 to 18 years consume more than half of their fruit intake as juice. Unfortunately, 100% juice lacks the fiber in whole fruits and when consumed in excess, can displace other healthy beverages, such as fat-free and low fat milk. While 100% fruit juice can be part of a well-balanced healthy diet, the majority of American’s daily fruit intake, young and old, should be from whole fruit.”

Contact Salge Blake at 617-353-7470; salge@bu.edu.

Daniel Miller

A recent study by Boston University School of Social Work Assistant Professor Daniel Miller found that different characteristics of home and school environments were related to a child’s body mass index (BMI) in kindergarten and the rate of BMI growth until fifth grade.

Using growth curve modeling and a sample of approximately 11,400 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study kindergarten cohort, the study investigates the role school and home environments play in the childhood obesity epidemic.

Miller’s research concluded that after controlling for a large number of socio-demographic variables, children’s overall activity levels, characteristics of schools, and the influence of early health, a number of different home and school factors were found to be significantly associated with a child’s BMI in kindergarten and the rate of change in BMI over time.

“Environmental factors are the root of the obesity epidemic,” Miller wrote. “The identification of the full set of environmental factors related to increases in BMI is an important task for current research.”

Children who watched more television, who had mothers who worked more often outside of the home, who ate more breakfasts and lunches at school, and who attended schools with gymnasiums rated as adequate by administrators had BMIs that grew at a significantly faster rate, suggesting increased risk for obesity.  Children who got more hours of sleep per night, who ate more lunches at school, and who attended schools with cafeterias and gymnasiums rated as adequate by school administrators had significantly lower levels of BMI in kindergarten.  Children who ate breakfasts more often with their families and spent more minutes in recess had BMIs that grew more slowly over time.

“Further research and policy efforts should continue to acknowledge the multi-etiological manner by which the environment can affect rates of child obesity,” Miller said.  “It is important [that we] pay attention to the multiple ways that children’s environments can promote or protect against obesity.  It may not be worthwhile just to focus only on one risk or protective factor.”

The paper, “Associations between the home and school environments and child body mass index,” appears in the March issue of Social Science & Medicine.

“If I could say one thing, it would be to encourage him to continue establishing the proposed preventative health services, which would include nutrition services, because of the cost-saving nature of the services. Preventative services are cost effective and would save the nation money while improving the nations’ health. Both are a good thing.”

Christopher Muller, Dean of the School of Hospitality Administration

Contact 617-353-6327, cmuller@bu.edu

Michael Siegel, Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health; Expert in tobacco control, effects of secondhand smoke

Contact 617-638-5167, mbsiegel@bu.edu