Children diagnosed with celiac disease (sensitivity to gluten in the diet) have traditionally been placed on a very strict lifelong diet free of wheat, rye, barley, and oats. The difficult diet helps protect the children from both short- and long-term damage to their intestinal linings. Recent studies in adults have suggested that oats may be okay for adults with celiac. If oats were okay for children and adolescents, it would make following the diet much easier.

The 2004 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for the treatment of ear infections includes specific recommendation for which antibiotics should be used in different situations. Most ear infections do not need antibiotics at all. If antibiotics are used, high-dose amoxicillin is the best choice for most children - along with treatment for their ear pain.

A change may be brewing. Although strep infections are usually mild, and would often get better on their own, some untreated strep infections result in serious complications . such as rheumatic heart disease.

Children who took zinc supplements along with their ADHD medications had greater improvement and improved much more quickly than those who took medications alone, according to a small, well-designed study published April 8, 2004 in Biomed Central Psychiatry. Half of the 44 school-aged children in the study received 15 mg of elemental zinc each day, and the other half received a placebo pill.

The National Institute of Mental Health has conducted a study comparing 4 different treatment options for children with a confirmed diagnosis of ADHD.

The more television that toddlers watch, the more likely they are to have ADHD when they are school age, according to a provocative study in the April 2004 Pediatrics. The study followed more than 2,600 children, initially at ages 1 to 3. The overall rate of ADHD at age 7 was about 10 percent.

Pregnant women who are vegetarians may be unnecessarily worried by prenatal screening tests, according to a study from the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei.

At the urging of the Food Commission, the BBC has decided to become a leader in children’s nutrition by changing the way they license their popular TV characters to sell kids’ foods. The BBC licenses dozens of products, which are powerful at influencing children’s choices. Their biggest three brands in the pre-school market are Teletubbies, Tweenies, and Fimbles. Previously, these popular characters have been used to entice children to crave tempting products that were high in fat, sugar or salt.

Type 1 diabetes has increased in children over the last decade, presumably triggered by something in their diet or in their environment. Some have suggested that perhaps the disease is triggered by a child.s response to vaccines. The April 1, 2004 New England Journal of Medicine contains the results of a huge investigation into this question.