Early Years Nutrition and Healthy Weight

Early Years Nutrition and Healthy Weight focuses on the early years of childhood as a key period in which eating and exercise habits are formed. Combining current evidence with practical advice, an international group of health specialists advise on the avoidance and management of childhood obesity. They look at key risk areas such as early sedentary behaviour, parental influences and underlying medical causes, and also investigate practical interventions including advice during pregnancy, parenting strategies, and prevention during pre-school and the early school years.

This practical handbook contains vital information and advice for all nutritionists and dietitians working with young children and families. It will also be a valuable text for health visitors, paediatricians and general practitioners, and students of nutrition and dietetics specialising in paediatric nutrition.

Key features:

• Only practitioner handbook dedicated to the early years of childhood as the key to ensuring healthy weight in later life
• Covers pregnancy through to pre-school and early school years interventions
• Also addresses the social and psychological issues that underpin nutritional problems
• International group of expert authors consider the issue across the developed world
• Case studies in each chapter illustrate the application of theory to practice

Dr Laura Stewart is the Tayside Weight Management Pathway Manager, at NHS Tayside, Scotland UK where she specialises in childhood weight management.

Joyce Thompson is a Dietetic Consultant in Public Health Nutrition, at NHS Tayside, Scotland, UK where she addresses nutrition across the lifecourse. 

Foreword, x

Acknowledgments, xii

1 Importance of good health and nutrition before and during pregnancy, 1
Catherine R. Hankey

2 Nutrition and health in the early years, 14
Judy More

3 Defining and measuring childhood obesity, 30
Charlotte M. Wright

4 Early life risk factors for childhood obesity, 40
John J. Reilly and Adrienne R. Hughes

5 Early physical activity and sedentary behaviours, 46
Anthony D. Okely and Xanne Janssen

6 Talking about weight with families, 59
Paul Chadwick and Helen Croker

7 Parenting strategies for healthy weight in childhood, 71
Clare Collins, Tracy Burrows and Kerith Duncanson

8 Pre-school prevention interventions, 81
Pinki Sahota

9 Contribution of food provision in primary schools to the prevention of childhood obesity, 91
Ethan A. Bergman

10 Early clinical interventions and outcomes, 100
Louise A. Baur

Index, 112

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