Recent study results suggest that placing children on diets is ineffective and may actually promote weight gain. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Harvard Medical School, and Stanford Medical School, studied more than 16,000 US children aged 9 to 14 between 1996 and 1998. Results showed that approximately 30% of the girls and 16% of the boys were on a diet at the start of the study. However, the researchers found that children who said they were on a diet and reported being more active and consuming fewer calories than the non-dieters actually tended to gain more weight. The study also revealed that frequent dieters gained the most weight per year. Overall, girls who dieted occasionally put on less weight than frequent dieters, but still more than non-dieters. Similar results were seen in boys. The researchers suspect that children who diet may gain more weight because of changes in their metabolism, or that dieters resort to binge eating. In July this year the National Center for Health Statistics reported that said 15% of children aged 6 to 18 were overweight in 2000, compared with just 6% back in 1980. The center also reported that weight problems are more prevalent among non-white US citizens &endash; 22% of black children and 25% of Mexican-American children were overweight in 2000.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Pediatrics 2003;112:900-906.
