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

A new study has found a strong link between family routines and the onset of childhood obesity. Researchers from Ohio State University say it's the first time three specific routines were assessed together.

According to a Feb. 8 ScienceDaily article, "in a large sample of the U.S. population, the study showed that 4-year-olds living in homes with all three routines had an almost 40 percent lower prevalence of obesity than did children living in homes that practiced none of these routines."

The following three factors were associated with a lower prevalence of childhood obesity:

• Eating dinner as a family
• Getting an adequate amount of sleep
• Limiting TV viewing time.
  

Researchers also pointed out, however, that the study doesn't confirm whether the actions themselves aid in preventing obesity, or if they indicate the presence of other preventative factors.

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, prevention, sleep, screen_time, family meals

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A new study from Australia recommends that children watch no more than two hours of television a day. ore than that amount leads to a decline in physical fitness, according to research from the University of Sydney.

• Dr. Louise Hardy had 2,750 children ages 11 to 15 years old undergo physical fitness tests.
• Dr. Hardy and her team also surveyed the children about how often they played computer games and watched television.
• Almost 10 percent of the children spent more than six hours a day engaged in "small screen" time.
• The children who spent more than two hours a day watching television were less likely to pass the physical fitness tests.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children watch no more than two hours a day -- a recommendation that Dr. Hardy said is supported by her team's research.

"As it turned out, the experts were fairly spot-on," Dr. Hardy said. "The two hours [limit] is a good benchmark.

Labels: television, screen_time, exercise

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Using a device that limits computer and TV time might help your child lose weight, according to a new study from the University at Buffalo in N.Y.

Dr. Leonard Epstein, a professor of pediatrics, studied 70 overweight children who watched TV and played video games at least 14 hours a week. He gave a monitoring device to half of their parents in order to gradually reduce "screen time" by 50 percent. The group with the monitors lost more weight compared to the control group.

This study appears in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Labels: screen_time, computers, TV

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Too much "screen time" in front of computers, video games, and television makes teenagers fat, according to a study from the University of Montréal and the Sainte Justine Hospital Research Center.

Teenagers in the study who used these devices the most often tended to be heavy, and those who increased their screen time during the course of the five-year study gained the most weight. Those who decreased their screen time tended to end up with healthy weights.

Dr. Tracie Barnett and her colleagues studied 744 children starting in the seventh grade. They recorded the children's screen time, time spent exercising, as well as their heights, weights, and body fat composition four times a year for five years.

"Our findings show that youth are at greater risk of increased body fat if screen use increases through high school," said Dr. Barnett. "One possible reason is that teenagers who increase their screen time are simultaneously reducing involvement and in opportunities for more active pursuits. ... The high levels of screen time observed in our study underscore the need for public health strategies to reduce overall screen time among youth."

This study appears in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
 

Labels: causes of childhood obesity, screen_time

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 1 Comment