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Helping
Overweight Kids Shape-up
Excerpt
By
Nancy A. Melville, HealthScoutNews Reporter
(HealthScoutNews)
-- Childhood obesity rates seem to be expanding as quickly as
kids' waistlines. But one experimental program has found a way
to curb the appetites of overweight youngsters and improve their
fitness levels, too.
Kids participating
in a nutrition and activity program at a Los Angeles pediatric
diabetes center cut their average monthly weight gain by more
than half, a new study says.
Researchers
followed 83 overweight children, ranging in age from 8 to 16,
as they progressed through the eight-week "Kids N Fitness"
program, offered by Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the University
of Southern California.
The program
included lessons about healthy eating as well as good exercise
habits and involved the kids' parents as well.
By the end
of the program, the children were gaining slightly less than ½
pound a month on average, down from an average gain of 2.6 pounds
each month.
The average
normal weight gain for a child in that age range is about 1 pound
a month.
"These
kids had been gaining more than twice the expected amount of a
growing child," says Marsha D. MacKenzie, director of the
Endocrine and Obesity Nutrition Program at Childrens Hospital
Los Angeles.
"So the
reduction was considered a very significant outcome," she
says. Details of the findings were presented at a recent meeting
of the American Diabetes Association.
MacKenzie
says the program, which is continuing, involves much more than
coming to a class and receiving lessons about nutrition.
"They
learn some very core nutritional principles, like the food guide
pyramid," she says. "And we teach them to read the labels
on products, to count the fat. We take them to the grocery store
and have scavenger hunts, we compare the food information and
look at things like how the stores place food for marketing."
Also, the
kids receive about 30 minutes of exercise each session.
Cynthia Sass,
a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic
Association, agrees that weight management in children should
focus on reducing the amount of weight gain, rather than reducing
the amount they weigh.
"The
primary goal with a child who is overweight would be to reduce
further weight gain or maintain current weight," Sass says.
"If you can maintain current weight and the child goes through
a growth spurt, you may end up having the child within normal
weight range."
"In addition,
any kind of weight-loss program with restrictive intake has the
potential to have adverse effects in children," she says.
"One could be that the child could have trouble concentrating,
and [that] could affect their functioning in classes."
"And
if it's a very low-calorie diet, it could interfere with growth
and development," Sass adds. "Potential behavior problems
can also occur because, when people are underfed, they typically
report experiencing moodiness and irritability."
A good way
to start controlling a child's weight is simply to note what he
or she is eating, Sass says.
"One
of the main things you would want to do would be to assess the
overall food intake," she says. "You may find a significant
source of calories that are not needed by the child, so the goal
would be to reduce those calories but not eliminate the calories
they do need for growth and development."
The percentage
of overweight American youngsters has almost doubled in the last
20 years. Today, an estimated 30 percent of children are too heavy,
according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.
What to
Do:
For more information
on obesity in children, visit the
American Heart Association or the
National Institute of Health online.
Reference
Source 101
For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick
Prevention Resources".
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