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| news international Fighting obesity and caries with Healthier snack choices for kids Making the right food choices in a busy life can be challenging but especially for children a healthy, balanced diet is important. A new cam- paign has thus been started in the UK aiming at helping parents in taking control of their children’s snacking and reducing their sugar intake, which is currently at around seven sugar cubes a day. The majority coming from unhealthy snacks and drinks, often leading to obesity and dental caries. Initiated by Public Health England (PHE), the Change4Life cam- paign encourages parents to provide a maximum of two 100-cal- orie snacks per day. According to PHE, children on average are consuming at least three unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks a day, one third consuming four or more, resulting in an intake of three times more sugar than the recommended limit. Several British supermarkets are supporting the in- tuitive and have committed to providing tasty and healthy snack products. Parents can also obtain dis- count vouchers from Change4Life for healthier snack options, including malt loaf, lower-sugar cream cheese and drinks with no added sugar. The Change4Life Food Scanner app shows parents the number of calories and the amount of sugar, salt and saturated fat in foods to make healthier choices easier. PHE is further working with the food industry aiming at cutting 20 per cent of sugar from the products children consume most by 2020. © Nataliya Arzamasova/Shutterstock.com Dog-assisted therapy also holds Potential for dentistry The positive effect of dogs on humans has prompted their intro- duction in several medical fields including dentistry. In the first study of its kind in Scandinavia, Dr Anne Margrete Gussgard, asso- ciate professor at the University of Tromsø, Norway, has begun looking into the impacts of animal-assisted therapy. “We know what effect dogs have on people. Their heart rate becomes calmer and the blood pressure decreases. There is more oxytocin in the blood and less cortisol. Neverthe- less, there are no studies specifically related to therapy dogs during dental treatment,” stated Gussgard. The research team consists of paediatric dentists, a psychologist and a pharmacologist. Gussgard completed her periodontal studies at the University of To- ronto in Canada and also has ten years of experience in working as a dentist for animals. She and her research partner labradoodle Barley prepared for the study through an intensive one-year dog therapy training. The research, currently focused entirely on paediatric patients, aims at determining the impact of a dog’s presence by compar- ing the outcomes of two scenarios—either performing treatments with or without the therapy dog. In the next step the research shall be conducted with adult patients. Source: DTI © N e i l L o c k h a r t / S h u t t e r s t o c k.com 32 1 2018