Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Study: Do Parents Help or Hurt Their Overweight Children?

From the June issue of Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics ... comes a study about the effect of parents on their overweight children.

Read the study summary below and post what you think!
"Obesity among children is a growing public health concern, given the physical and psychological consequences associated with excess body weight. The study, “Accurate Parental Classification of Overweight Adolescents’ Weight Status: Does It Matter?” determined that parents need to talk less and do more when it comes to weight-related matters.

Parents who recognized that their teenage children were overweight did not do “healthy things” at home to help their children with healthy weight management such as having more fruits and vegetables available. Rather, the only behavior that they did more frequently was to encourage their children to diet, which was not helpful to weight management over a five-year period, in fact it predicted poorer weight outcomes (i.e., increased weight gain), particularly in girls.
The study authors suggest placing less emphasis on getting parents of overweight children to correctly classify their children as overweight and more emphasis on helping all parents provide a healthy home environment, which is supportive of healthy eating and physical activity, for their children."
Source: Pediatrics.
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1 comment:

Joanna Dolgoff, M.D. said...

I am a pediatrician and I run a Child and Adolescent Weight Management Program in New York. I have a daily blog on which I post tips on how to teach your overweight child healthy eating habits to help them lose weight. I also give advice on how to prevent your child from gaining with in the first place. Please feel free to read my blog and post any questions you may have.

www.childweightlossmd.blogger.com

Joanna Dolgoff, M.D.