One of the items served Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives' cafeteria came all the way from Chicago. Well, not the actual meal, exactly -- the recipe.

Citing childhood obesity concerns, the Syracuse Common Council this week rejected a school district proposal to contract with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. for exclusive pouring rights in city schools.

Banning sugary beverages and junk foods from schools appears to slow childhood obesity, U.S. researchers found.

Childhood overweight and obesity rates seem to be leveling off for all but a few subgroups, a new study released today says. Low-income, minority and publicly-insured children and teens keep getting fatter and their health risks continue to increase, said Lisa Simpson, director of the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

First Lady Michelle Obama brings her anti-childhood obesity drive to Mississippi -- the country's most overweight state -- on Wednesday, when she will appear with GOP Gov. Haley Barbour, who has left the door open to a 2012 White House run.

Children today snack an average of three times a day, and they are mostly consuming sugary beverages, cookies, cake, candy, salty snacks and other high-calorie junk food, a new study shows.

Obese children as young as age 3 show signs of an inflammatory response that has been linked to heart disease later in life, researchers said, in a finding that is likely to further stoke concerns about childhood obesity.

The odds of obesity appear stacked against black and Hispanic children starting even before birth, provocative new research suggests.

Do you find the nutrition information on food packages confusing? Do you find it nearly impossible to read the jammed-together print in the ingredients list? Do you have any idea what some of the terms mean?

First lady Michelle Obama, crusading against childhood obesity and “food deserts,” singled out North Philadelphia as a shining example of how communities can come together to bring healthy foods to urban areas while creating jobs and revitalizing ailing neighborhoods.

Michelle Obama launched her "Let's Move" campaign to fight obesity with a flood of media attention and a Presidential Memorandum, signed by her husband, establishing a new Task Force on Childhood Obesity. But how does the rhetoric of the Let's Move campaign stack up against what President Obama's administration is actually doing to address childhood obesity?

Overweight children and young people with diabetes have a significantly higher risk of having strokes decades before their healthier peers, a new study has found.

First lady Michelle Obama sits in an upholstered armchair in her East Wing office, a generous bowl of fresh apples on a nearby table.

Watching Shaun White drop into the halfpipe at the Vancouver Games, it’s easy to forget that America is the most sedentary nation on Earth. The Daily Beast this week released the results of the Couch Potato Olympics, analyzing statistics for 24 industrialized nations in calories consumed, television watched, aversion to playing sports (yes, there are data on that) and Internet use.

When First Lady Michelle Obama urged "Let's Move" earlier this month, area experts in child obesity said, "we're way ahead of you," with efforts ranging from a new weight center just for kids to hip-hop dance classes with a funky instructor named Q.

Parents of overweight and obese children face a heavy burden in navigating a complex health-care system that does little to help them change their kids' course. But a growing number of employers and health insurers are trying to make it easier to get such help.
Editor’s Note: This article includes quotes from Ginny Ehrlich, executive director of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. RWJF supports the Alliance’s Healthy Schools Program.

Our country faces many challenges as we look to the future. In his first year in office, President Obama pulled us back from the brink of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and worked to lay a new foundation for economic growth.

For many years, educators, nutritionists and researchers have been trying to call attention to the crisis of childhood obesity. And now, with Michelle Obama sounding the clarion call, we finally have a real opportunity to turn the tide on this growing public health threat.

You'd think, with the ugly truth at last laid out before them courtesy of the new labeling law, California's restaurant diners would alter their behavior. That's a no-brainer, right?
Editor’s Note: This article quotes Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. The Rudd Center is an RWJF grantee.

Tennessee's efforts fighting its childhood obesity epidemic are beginning to pay off, health officials say, with a small drop in a rate that's been rising for at least three decades.