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Move More, Eat Less



HealthDay
September 10, 2012


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Transcript

 

Tackling the problem of overweight American kids has captured the attention of everyone from parents to doctors to First Lady Michelle Obama. Nearly all efforts focus on having kids move more and eat less.

Now, new research, just published in the Journal of Pediatrics, puts pressure on the theory hat heavy kids eat more.

In a study of more than 12-thousand children researchers at the University of North Carolina analyzed validated food logs from a large national study.

The results were a bit surprising. Overweight and obese girls over the age of 7 reported eating fewer calories than their normal weight peers. The same goes for heavy boys over the age of 10.

Researchers say while young kids are often active that positive energy expenditure tends to slow down with age. They believe nipping obesity in the bud in the very early years by encouraging kids to keep moving may help the long term health of our children.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that kids 6 and older get 60 minutes or more of physical activity every day. Keeping it varied and mixing in lots of unstructured playtime makes it fun for kids!

I'm Dr. Cindy Haines, with health information for your entire family.