Daily HealthBeat Tip - October 29, 2007

Keeping weight off kids

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

Kids who can get weight back under control have their relapse problems, just like adults. But kids also have successes. And researcher Denise Wilfley of Washington University School of Medicine has some ideas on what works.

Wilfley looked at 7- to-12-year-olds who went through a weight-control program. Afterward, some were put into a program that focused on things they could do as individuals. Others were in a program that helped parents set up social networks like play groups that encouraged healthy eating and similar steps.

Wilfley found both worked:

``Children who were offered a maintenance treatment were significantly better at maintaining their weight loss both in the short term and in the long term.’’ (8 seconds)

The study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, was in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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: May, 26 2008