Teens with metabolic syndrome — a set of health conditions linked with the development of heart disease and diabetes — perform worse in school than their healthier counterparts, according to a new study.

Researchers studied 111 adolescents, including 49 with metabolic syndrome and 62 without, and found that those with the condition performed 5 to 15 percent worse on tests of their academic abilities.

Additionally, brain scans showed kids with metabolic syndrome had smaller hippocampuses, the part of the brain involved in learning and forming memories.

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Unlike infant formula, breast milk promotes more beneficial growth of gut flora, the colonies of friendly bacteria that help absorb nutrients and develop the immune system. This may explain why it is better than formula at protecting newborns from infection and illness, according to a new US study published as an epub ahead of print in the journal Current Nutrition & Food Science this week.

Senior author William Parker, associate professor of surgery at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, in the US, told the press:

"This study is the first we know of that examines the effects of infant nutrition on the way that bacteria grow, providing insight to the mechanisms underlying the benefits of breast feeding over formula feeding for newborns."

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The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is revising its recommendations for the diagnosis and management of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in children and adolescents, according to a clinical practice guideline published online Aug. 27 in Pediatrics.

Carole L. Marcus, M.B.B.Ch., from the AAP's Subcommittee on Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome, and colleagues reviewed 350 relevant articles from 1999 to 2010, most of which were level II to IV, and used these data to revise the clinical practice guidelines.

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Overweight and obese children are at significantly increased risk for gallstones, according to a large new study.

Researchers analyzed the health records of more than 510,000 children in California, aged 10 to 19, and found that those who were overweight were twice as likely to have gallstones as those with normal weight.

The risk was four times higher in moderately obese children and six times higher in extremely obese children.

The link between obesity and gallstones was stronger in girls than in boys. Obese and extremely obese girls were six and eight times more likely, respectively, to have gallstones than underweight or normal-weight girls. Obese and extremely obese boys were more than two and three times more likely, respectively, to have gallstones than underweight or normal-weight boys.

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