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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Menus list calories, less calories chosen

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Parents
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Tuesday January 26, 2010

Menus list calories, less calories chosen
Children of two gay parents do as well
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Menus list calories, less calories chosen

SEATTLE (UPI) -- Parents who have access to fast-food menus with calorie information tend to choose lower calorie selections for their children, U.S. researchers say.

Study leader Dr. Pooja S. Tandon of Seattle Children's Research Institute said the study involved 99 parents of children ages 3-6, who sometimes eat in fast-food restaurants with their children. They were presented with sample McDonald's restaurant menus which included current prices and pictures of items, and asked what they would select for themselves and also for their children as a typical meal.

Half of the parents were given menus that also clearly showed calorie information for each item. Choices included most of the items sold at McDonald's, including a variety of burgers, sandwiches, salads, dressings, side items, beverages, desserts and "Happy Meals."

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found parents who were given the calorie information chose 102 fewer calories on average -- a calorie reduction of approximately 20 percent -- for their children, compared with the group who did not have access to calorie information on their menus.

"Even modest calorie adjustments on a regular basis can avert weight gain and lead to better health over time," Tandon said in a statement. "Just an extra 100 calories per day may equate to about 10 pounds of weight gain per year."

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Children of two gay parents do as well

LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- Studies indicate children raised by two same-gender parents do as well on average as children raised by two different-gender parents, U.S. researchers say.

Sociologist Timothy Biblarz of the University of Southern California and Judith Stacey of New York University analyzed relevant studies about parenting, including available research on single-mother and single-father households, gay male parents and lesbian parents.

"That a child needs a male parent and a female parent is so taken for granted that people are uncritical," Stacey said in a statement.

"Significant policy decisions have been swayed by the misconception across party lines that children need both a mother and a father. Yet, there is almost no social science research to support this claim. One problem is that proponents of this view routinely ignore research on same-gender parents."

The social science research that is routinely cited does not actually speak to the questions of whether or not children need both a mother and a father at home, but compares heterosexual two-parent families with single parents."

There are far more similarities than differences among children of lesbian and heterosexual parents, but lesbian biological mothers typically assumed greater caregiving responsibility than their partners. Studies of gay male families are still limited.

The article is scheduled to be published in the February issue of Journal of Marriage and Family.

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