Should adolescent obesity prevention programs focus on calories?

¶ … Adolescent Obesity Prevention Programs Focus on Calories?" discusses weight-management issues for American young people, including what kind of nutritional management works the best, mainly because so many young people do not eat well when they diet.

The research in the article includes creating a new nutritional model called "New Moves" for adolescent girls, and a pilot study that interviewed girls in the program to discover how effective it really was. Specifically, this study looked at what messages really got through to adolescent girls, messages about health or weight control. The research was based on private interviews with numerous girls in the study, which was conducted in several schools in Minnesota. The results of the research were actually mixed. Some girls felt focusing on weight control alone might lead more girls to obsess about their weight and dieting, while others felt the information was valuable and should be included so they could make more informed decisions about their dieting and healthy eating habits.

This study can apply to just about any overweight adolescent, and it is important because that is a growing segment of America's overweight population. The researchers concluded this is a "sensitive population," and that is true. Many studies have shown that this can be the time lifelong eating habits develop, including eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Thus, discovering what works and motivates adolescents when they are dieting can lead to reduced numbers of young people suffering from these diseases as well as obesity.