Monday, October 6, 2008

Behavioral Management Plans Help Kids Lose Weight

“In a new study released Sept. 29, researchers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) evaluated methods for weight loss and the prevention of further weight gain in children and teens. The researchers found that the obese children who completed weight management programs weighed between 3 pounds and 23 pounds less, on average, that obese children who were not involved in such programs. This weight difference was the greatest among the heavier children and those who were enrolled in more intensive programs. ‘Effective prevention is the best way to stem the childhood obesity epidemic, but we also have to find effective and healthy ways of helping our children and teens who already are obese get to a healthier weight,’ AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy said in an agency news release. The researchers also found that intensive, health care-based programs were generally more effective than school-based programs. And, prescription weight loss drugs and weight-reduction surgery were both associated with weight loss in obese children and teens, but they were also associated with adverse side effects, while there were no reported harms from behavioral intervention alone.”

http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=619833

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