An extensive study in Dutch schools has shown promise for reversing the course of childhood obesity. The program, dubbed Dutch Obesity Intervention in Teenagers (DOiT), was run in 10 schools. As a result, teenagers’ consumption of sugar-laden sodas was dropped and body-fat was reduced.
The program specifics included some basic common sense measures: a boost in the students’ exercise levels, and reducing junk food and sugary drinks. The students also had 11 health lessons, and schools were encouraged to increase gym classes and make changes in cafeteria food.
Most of us know that when followed correctly, a vegetarian diet can be incredibly healthy for both humans and the planet. But what happens when someones’ intentions for being healthy go too far? According to the Journal of American Dietetic Association, twice as many teens and nearly double the number of young adults who had been vegetarians reported having used unhealthy means to control their weight like diet pills, laxatives, vomiting or diuretics, compared with those who had never been vegetarians.
These recent findings underscore a chicken-or-the-egg scenario: does being a vegetarian enable an adolescent to develop an eating disorder, or does the youth’s choice to become a vegetarian mask an underlying eating or body image issue? Health and nutrition experts see it as more of an issue with the latter, namely that there are predisposing factors that initially lead a child to choose to abstain from meat and also carry out unhealthy behaviors to control their weight.
When we think of smokers, most non-smokers think about the elementary fact that they are at a serious risk of premature death. And often, people scoff at the behavior as being careless, which usually begins in the impressionable teenage years. But research now shows that it’s not any more dangerous (or frivolous) for young adults to smoke than it is to be overweight.
Dr. Martin Neovius of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and his colleagues stressed that since overweight and smoking are both associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease and certain cancers, that if young adults fall in either category, they are at risk of an early death. Although the pathogenic mechanisms differ, he said, a synergistic effect of smoking and obesity may be possible.
The researchers found that obesity and being overweight in late adolescence increased mortality risk, regardless of whether or not they also smoked.
Researchers concluded that “overweight, obesity, and smoking among adolescents might be good targets for intensified public health initiatives.”
(via: MedPage Today)
0 Comments
