Daily HealthBeat Tip - July 18, 2007

Weighing in

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

When kids think their sport requires them to stay thin, that’s what they try to do. And a study finds that kids in these sports are more likely to try unhealthy ways.

Marla Eisenberg of the University of Minnesota looked at survey data on almost 5,000 teens. For instance, almost 6 percent of boys in a weight-related sport reported inducing vomiting. Less than 1 percent of boys who were not in a weight-related sport did that.

Eisenberg recommends parents listen to what their kids say about their sport.

``These kinds of unhealthy weight-control behaviors – and steroid use – are not isolated to kids in ballet, or wrestling, or the things that people have kind of been more watchful of in the past.’’ (10 seconds)

The study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association was supported by HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: July, 18 2007