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Parents who focus on children's weight don't help matters
The National Post (Wed 14 Nov 2007 Byline: Joene Hendry) reports on the findings of a new study which suggest overweight adolescents may be more likely to continue practicing extreme eating or weight-control measures when their parents focus too much on weight issues. But family sit-down meals and regular eating patterns may protect adolescents from continued weight-related problems, propose Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer of the University of Minnesota and colleagues. The investigators analyzed overweight, binge-eating, and extreme weight-control measures (such as induced vomiting, diet pills or laxative use), and social or personal behavioural factors potentially associated with these measures among 2,516 adolescents attending Minneapolis/St. Paul middle and high schools. A total of 1,311 girls and 1,069 boys participated in the study.
Information collected at the start of the study, when the students were on average 13 years or 16 years old, compared with information gathered five years later, showed that 44% of the girls and 29% of the boys had continuing weight-related problems. Weight-teasing by family, personal weight concerns and dieting/unhealthy weight-control behaviours "strongly and consistently" predicted being overweight, binge-eating and engaging in extreme weight-control behaviours after five years, the investigators report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
By contrast, frequent family meals, a positive atmosphere at family meals and frequent lunch eating appeared to limit risk for binge eating and using extreme weight-control measures over time. These findings help identify factors associated with continued weight-related problems among adolescents, the researchers note.
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