Reading Fiction Can Help Combat Obesity, Study Says
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By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 02/17/2010
Reading may be fundamental—but it’s also beneficial to a child’s health, according to a new study set for release in Pediatrics magazine next month.
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center tracked 81 clinically obese girls, ages 9 to 13, and found that 35 percent of the children managed to reduce their body mass index (BMI) when given a book to read about an overweight girl who helps herself to get healthier.
“Age-appropriate fiction, particularly if it addresses health-oriented behaviors, shows potential for augmenting weight loss in girls who participate in a weight-management program,” say the authors of the report "A 'Novel' Intervention: A Pilot Study of Children’s Literature and Healthy Lifestyle."
Duke University Medical Center is home to the Duke University Healthy Lifestyles Program, a nationally known center for overweight and obese children that attempts to teach them new tools to better manage their lives. Discovering new ways to cope with stress and incorporating different routines can play key roles in managing weight.
Getting more sleep, eating dinner with family, and minimizing the amount of time in front of the television are three such routines that two other researchers recently found had a strong effect on preschoolers and their weight, according to a second study also scheduled to run in the March issue of Pediatrics.
These authors, Sarah E. Anderson and Robert C. Whitaker, queried parents of 8,550 four-year-olds and found that preschoolers who ate dinner five or more nights with their family each week, slept more than 10.5 hours a night, and watched less than two hours of television, videos, or DVD a day were 40 percent less likely to be obese than those who did not have any of these behaviors in their home.
Obesity in children is quickly gaining attention as First Lady Michelle Obama is devoting considerable attention and time to the issue with her the recent launch of her “Let’s Move” initiative. A new site in connection with her campaign offers suggestions on how to make healthier choices for both families at home and students at school.
But starting early, before students even step into classrooms, by ensuring young children have enough sleep and develop positive eating and physical fitness habits, might be critical in helping to prevent obesity, the authors of Household Routines and Obesity in US Preschool-Aged Children say.
“These household routines may be promising targets for obesity-prevention efforts in early childhood,” they write.
