Childhood Obesity - Do you have an overweight child? We offer tips to help your child lose weight and get fit!

The My Overweight Child blog will help you keep informed about the latest research, findings, and resources available to parents of overweight or obese kids. There are many knowledgeable people working on the increasingly dire problem of childhood obesity - and we want to give parents a place where they can check in regularly to see the latest studies and tips available to help you help your child lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

We invite you to add your comments - if you have feedback for the blog, would like some specific topics covered, or you just want to share your experience as a parent dealing with childhood obesity.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Weight Loss Cuts Teen Girls' Risk of Diabetes

Overweight girls who lose weight before they reach adulthood are less likely to develop diabetes, according to a new study from the National Institute of Health and Harvard University.

  • Researchers analyzed data on 109,000 female nurses, of whom 3300 developed diabetes.
  • If a woman was obese when she was 18 years old, she had nine times the risk of diabetes.
  • If she had been overweight at age ten but not overweight at age 18, her chances of developing diabetes were no greater than those who were normal weight as children.

"These findings suggest that ensuring that overweight kids reverse their weight gain is critical to their future risk of diabetes as adults," said author Edwina Yeung.

This study appeared in the journal Diabetes Care.
 

Labels: diet, diabetes, girls

Posted By: Aspen Education Group

Comments:

anonymous on 6/12/2010
What a shame that, as athletic opportunities for girls continue to increase, we're also dealing with more cases of weight problems. Parents need to be doing a better job of making sure that their daughters take advantage of the many benefits of developing good exercise habits at a young age!