Welcome From the Editor

Despite recent positive developments in the epidemic of childhood obesity, such as an observed decline in obesity rates among preschoolers, obesity affects a staggering 16.9% of children and adolescents in the United States. ¹ The problem is not limited to the United States and other high income countries. Roughly, 20% of children in India and China, for example, are either overweight or obese. ² Moreover, obesity among children is associated with a wide range of short and long-term medical, psychological, and social problems. ³ Not surprisingly, the problem continues to receive considerable attention from clinicians, researchers, educators, and policy makers. Childhood obesity is the focus of a number of organizations. Several journals are devoted to childhood obesity, and many more, with a broader focus in nutrition, diabetes, metabolism, or obesity across all age groups, publish a large number of articles in the field. It is in this research and publishing environment that we introduce Childhood Obesity and Nutrition.

Our goal is twofold. First, we wish to publish papers about topics within the broad field of pediatric obesity and nutrition that have historically received less attention in the existing scientific literature. Second, we wish for the journal to be interesting and accessible to a broad audience. Stakeholders with an interest in childhood obesity, in addition to children and families, are extremely diverse. They include not only clinicians and researchers but also educators of many types, policy makers, community activists and advocates, the legal community, urban planners, environmentalists, and many others. Childhood Obesity and Nutrition welcomes relevant submissions from authors from a variety of fields. The journal will serve as an intellectual resource for creative ideas about the causes, impact, and solutions to the epidemic. All submissions should avoid highly technical jargon as much as possible. If you must include complicated terms (eg, names of key hormones involved in appetite regulation), they should be accompanied by short explanations. Assume only that the readership is highly educated, understands that childhood obesity is a serious problem, and has a basic knowledge of epidemiology and nutrition.

Some topics we are especially interested for research papers (including qualitative systematic reviews and meta-analyses) include the following:

Practical strategies for obesity and nutrition counseling and related care in busy clinical settings.

The lack of research into practical strategies for addressing obesity in primary care and other similar busy clinical settings has been repeatedly cited as a major gap.^4,5 Most obesity intervention studies among adults and children take place in highly specialized settings. Such interventions, even when successful, are often too impractical and expensive to be implemented in the types of settings in which most children receive their care.

Psychological and social causes and consequences of the problem.

We are interested in methodologically sound papers about psychological and psychiatric causes such as binge eating disorder, and social causes such as family and peer behaviors. We are also very interested in understanding the tremendous impact of obesity upon the psychological and social well-being of children.

Educational curricula for a wide variety of stakeholders.

We are interested in systematic descriptions of childhood obesity and nutrition educational curricula, provided they are accompanied by meaningful outcomes such as increased leaner knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavior. These curricula may target parents, teachers, and students and professionals in the fields of medicine, nutrition, nursing, health policy, economics, and so on.

Systematic descriptions of policy interventions designed to promote healthy eating and/or physical activity and overall improvement in health. Descriptions of policy interventions may be at the local, regional, national, or international level and should be accompanied by detailed descriptions of how the impact of such policies was evaluated. Evaluations may be in progress with incomplete results.

Systematic evaluation of the nutritional value of foods and beverages with an emphasis upon their potential impact on obesity.

The dietary habits of many people around the world are changing rapidly. Systematic descriptions of the nutritional value of increasingly consumed foods and beverages would be highly informative for the journal’s broad audience.

Behaviors, perceptions, and concerns about childhood obesity and nutrition attitudes among families from diverse cultures.

Children in most high income countries are becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. Forty-eight percent of American children, for example, are non-white. ⁶ We welcome papers which explore obesity-related behaviors and attitudes in culturally diverse communities.

The topics above are by no means an exclusive list. We welcome other papers about timely and important topics related to childhood obesity and nutrition. In addition to original papers, letters to the editor, structured case studies, narrative reviews of timely topics, and viewpoints are also welcome. You are encouraged to contact me prior to submission to discuss whether your paper would be of interest to the journal. Together, I believe we can build a journal which addresses important research gaps, provides a forum for researchers from many disciplines, and is both relevant and interesting to read.

Goutham Rao, MDEditor-in-Chief, Childhood Obesity and Nutrition