A study conducted by Chantelle Hart, associate professor of public health at Temple’s Center for Obesity Research and Education, found that lack of sleep may contribute to childhood obesity. Her study, published this week, is the first to examine the impact of sleep on children’s eating behaviors by manipulating the amount of sleep that study participants were able to get.

Temple Center for Obesity Research and Education Director Gary D. Foster has been appointed to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee by the U.S. secretaries of Health and Human Services and Agriculture.

A new study by researchers at Temple’s Center for Obesity Research and Education (CORE) will compare the effects of zero-calorie drinks and water in the context of weight loss. The center is seeking to recruit up to 150 people to take part in the study, which is being led by CORE Director Gary Foster.

A recent study led by Katherine W. Bauer, assistant professor in Temple’s Department of Public Health and Center for Obesity Research and Education, found that the average calorie content of foods offered by eight of the major U.S. fast food restaurants changed very little between 1997 and 2010.

Temple researcher Sharon Herring will begin studying whether sleep loss contributes to postpartum weight gain in new mothers. Funded by a $486,000 Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Foundation, the study will focus on urban, low-income mothers, who have the highest levels of obesity in America.