Efforts to fight obesity among children and teens should include strategies to help them think differently about their eating and exercise habits, said a review of 64 studies of lifestyle "therapy" and drug interventions as quoted in media reports Thursday.
And it's important for parents to get involved, especially for pre-adolescent children, Dr. Hiltje Oude Luttikhuis, of the Beatrix Children's Hospital in Groningen, The Netherlands, and her colleagues said in the review.
The review is published in the Cochrane Library, which is put out by The Cochrane Collaboration, an international group that produces systematic reviews of health care interventions.
The current review is an update of the first one, done in 2003. No direct conclusions could be drawn from the earlier review, Luttikhuis and her team noted, because of the small size of many of the studies as well as quality concerns.
The new review incorporates randomized, controlled trials published as recently as May 2008, including 12 targeting increased activity; 6 focused on diet; 36 of behavioral treatment; and 10 of drug therapy. The studies included 5,230 children in all.
The review confirmed that behavioral lifestyle interventions can help kids lose weight, they noted.
(Agencies via Xinhua January 23, 2009)