WEDNESDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Dental erosion -- the loss of the teeth's protective enamel -- is on the increase in the United States, researchers say.

"This study is important, because it confirms our suspicions of the high prevalence of dental erosion in this country and, more importantly, brings awareness to dental practitioners and patients of its prevalence, causes, prevention and treatment," study co-author Bennett T. Amaechi, an associate professor of community dentistry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, said in a prepared statement.

Amaechi led the San Antonio portion of the study, which also included researchers at Indiana University and the University of California, San Francisco. They looked at 900 middle school students (aged 10 to 14), and found that about 30 percent of them had the condition.

Dental erosion is caused by acids found in many common products, including soft drinks, sports drinks, some fruit juices and herbal teas.

"When consumed in excess, these products can easily strip the enamel from the teeth, leaving the teeth more brittle and sensitive to pain. The acids in these products can be so corrosive that not even cavity-causing bacteria can survive when exposed to them," Amaechi said.

Regular use of some types of medications, such as aspirin, also may cause dental erosion. Certain medical conditions, such as acid reflux disease or eating disorders (such as bulimia) associated with chronic vomiting, can cause dental erosion because of the gastric acids that are regurgitated into the mouth.

"It is important for dental practitioners to identify the erosion and its causes before it is too late. Because dental erosion creates a smooth and shiny appearance of the enamel and causes no pain or sensitivity in its early stages, most patients are not aware that they are suffering from the condition until the problem becomes severe," Amaechi said.

The findings were published in current issue of the Dental Tribune.

More information

The Columbia University Medical Center, School of Dental and Oral Surgery has more about dental abrasion and erosion  .

WEDNESDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- A preschool-based weight control intervention program instilled healthy eating habits in children aged 2 to 5, a new study shows.

The study, by researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, included children from ethnically diverse, low-income families who went to eight subsidized child-care centers in Miami Dade County. The children were assigned to either an intervention or a control group.

Those in the intervention group received a six-month home- and preschool-based obesity prevention program. The preschool part of the program included the following menu modifications and education:

• The menu promoted water as the primary beverage for children and staff; offered only skim or 1 percent milk; limited juices and other sweetened beverages; and included fruits and vegetables as snacks as often as possible.
• Teachers were educated weekly about how to incorporate lessons about nutrition and physical activity and how to better understand and overcome children's cognitive, cultural and environmental barriers to implementing a healthy low-fat, high-fiber diet.

The family part of the program, designed to reinforce what the children learned at day care, included: monthly parent dinners to educate parents about food labels, portion sizes and the food guide pyramid; newsletters that featured topics such as picky eaters, healthy cooking tips, healthy fast food choices, and recipes for healthy snacks; and at-home activities such as sampling different vegetables and various types of lower-fat milks.

When they compared the children in the study group to those in the control group, the researchers concluded that the program is an effective obesity prevention strategy.

"While 68.4 percent of children were at normal weight at the start of the study, this increased to 73 percent at follow-up. Also, the percentage of children who were at risk for overweight decreased from 16 percent to 12 percent," study senior author Sarah E. Messiah, a research assistant professor in the division of pediatric clinical research, said in a prepared statement.

Compared to children in the control group, those in the intervention program ate less junk food, more fruits and vegetables, and drank less juice and more 1 percent milk. On average in the intervention group: chip consumption decreased from daily to none; cookie consumption decreased 50 percent; children ate 25 percent more fresh fruits and vegetables; water consumption increased 20 percent while juice consumption decreased 50 percent; and children drank 20 percent more 1 percent milk.

"In the control sites, cake and cookie consumption actually increased 35 percent and 75 percent, respectively, while average fresh fruit and water consumption decreased," Messiah said.

"We are hoping that our study will impact policy around the country leading to healthier standards for meals served at child-care centers. If we are successful in improving attitudes toward nutrition and physical activity in early childhood, we can potentially influence adult behavior and begin to hope that the public health epidemic of obesity can be ended," she said.

The study was to be presented Wednesday at the American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"Nobody would dispute that we are experiencing an epidemic of obesity in this country," study co-author Ruby Natale, an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics, said in a prepared statement. "Children as young as 7 years old are experiencing health consequences of being overweight, suggesting that intervention must occur as early as possible and involve the entire family."

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more about overweight and obesity in children  .

WEDNESDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- A new survey reports that teenagers spend far too many hours a week in front of TVs and computers, and those in poor neighborhoods have even more "screen time."

"The take-home message is that we have to find out why some of these kids don't have healthier alternatives in their neighborhoods," said study author Tracie A. Barnett, a researcher at Sainte-Justine Children's Hospital Research Center in Montreal.

While it's possible that kids spend their time at home watching television documentaries and perusing classic novels on their computers, researchers assume that they're not exercising their brains or their bodies. Some studies have suggested a link between TV watching and obesity in children, Barnett noted.

In fact, a study published earlier this month reported that cutting TV and computer time in half helped younger children eat less and lose weight.

To figure out what teenagers were up to, Barnett and her colleagues surveyed 1,293 seventh-grade students from 10 Montreal high schools in 1999 and followed many of them for five years.

The students reported the number of hours they spent watching TV, playing video games, or using computers. The findings were expected to be released Wednesday at the American Heart Associations Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Half of the boys and a quarter of the girls reported spending an average of more than 42 hours a week in front of electronic screens. TV was the most common form of screen use, accounting for 85 percent of the time.

Girls who lived in the poorest neighborhoods were five times more likely to spend the most time in front of screens than those in the richest neighborhoods.

The girls in poor neighborhoods "might be more vulnerable to perceptions that their neighborhoods are not safe," Barnett suggested. "It's possible that the boys are a little less affected, and they go out anyway."

Future research will try to determine why there's a link between poverty and time spent in front of screens, Barnett said.

Frederick Zimmerman, an associate professor of health services at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, said parents in poor neighborhoods face tough choices when they decide whether to send their kids outside, where it might be dangerous, or let them sit in front of electronic screens inside.

"Parents -- particularly those in low-income neighborhoods -- face an agonizing choice between the dangers outside the home and those emanating from the TV screen or computer monitor," Zimmerman said. "Sometimes, it is tempting to believe that the dangers posed by extensive TV or computer use are not real, but they are," he said. "Numerous studies have documented the associations between excessive TV viewing and obesity, smoking, alcohol use, violent and aggressive behavior, tolerance of aggression against women, and poor school performance."

More information

To learn more about kids and TV watching, check kidshealth.org  .

MONDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- Children cared for by the same doctor during their first six months of life are more likely than those examined by different doctors to receive proper screening for lead poisoning, anemia and tuberculosis by age 2, a U.S. study finds.

The study looked at 1,564 infants covered by Medicare. All the children were born at three Philadelphia-area hospitals between July 1999 and March 2001, and received health care at more than 120 different primary-care offices.

Lead toxicity in infants can lead to low intelligence later in life, iron-deficiency anemia can cause movement problems and damage sight or hearing, and tuberculosis can have serious complications for children.

Children most at risk -- such as those from urban, low-income families -- often don't receive proper screening for these problems, the study authors noted.

"Continuity of care may be of particular importance to vulnerable pediatric patients, such as those insured through the Medicaid program," principal investigator Dr. Evaline Alessandrini, a pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a prepared statement. "All health-care visits, not just well-child visits, are important in establishing relationships with families and meeting children's health-care needs."

She and her colleagues said efforts to improve infant outcomes should focus not only on increasing the number of visits to a primary-care doctor, but also reducing the number of pediatricians who treat a child. It's also important to identify which children are most at risk of not receiving continuity of care.

"In 2008, there's a lot of discussion about the purpose of primary care and the benefits children achieve by having a regular doctor. We don't want to forget the basics and, if there are simple ways to ensure those aspects of primary care are met, then we should find ways to get them done," Alessandrini said.

The study was published in the March issue of Pediatrics.

More information

The March of Dimes has more about screening tests for infants  .