A novel, written with the help of paediatricians to include strong role models and positive messages about getting healthy by exercising and eating right, augmented weight loss in a group of adolescent girls participating in a weight management program, according to research presented at the Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting in Phoenix.
The idea that a book can help girls lose weight is “encouraging because it’s fairly easy to implement,” said Dr Sarah Armstrong, director of Duke’s Healthy Lifestyles Programme, where the study took place.
According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 per cent of children between six and 19 are overweight or obese, a number that has tripled since 1980. Intensive efforts are underway to find ways to help overweight kids lose weight and “most don’t work very well,” Dr Armstrong said.
In the study, researchers divided 64 obese nne- to 13-year-old girls, who were already taking part in a comprehensive weight loss programme, into three groups: one group read no books, one read a “control” book, and one read the “intervention” book called Lake Rescue (Beacon Street Press).
“This book is not just a story about a girl who loses weight. It’s about a heroine who comes to understand her battle with weight in a very real and tangible way that preteens can connect with,” Dr Armstrong noted.
After six months, the researchers found that the girls who read Lake Rescue had a significant 0.71 per cent drop in their body mass index, the ratio between height and weight. The group that read the control book had a drop of 0.33 per cent in their BMI, while the non-readers increased their BMI scores by 0.05 per cent.
“The strength of the study is not in the magnitude of the result, but in the simplicity of the intervention,” Dr Armstrong said. “It is very rare to find an intervention, especially in this preteen age group, who are too young to qualify for medication or surgery to help them lose weight, which is positive in its message and has a beneficial effect on body mass,” she added.
Reuters Health