Today's teens are taller and heavier than their counterparts in the 1960s, and that may be due to better nutrition, according to a study in the BMC Public Health journal.

However, the researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology who did the study cannot explain why more of today's teens are at extremes of overweight and underweight.

Sigrid Bjornelv and her colleagues went through charts from the years 1995-1997 of 6774 teenagers and charts from 8378 teens in 1966-1969. Heights and weights increased for all ages and both sexes. This study, like many others, found an increased percentage of teenagers who are obese. However, there was also an increase in the percentage of very underweight teens.

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, nutrition