AR-News: Weight-Loss Diets Designed for Adults May Cause Children to Gain Weight

[jim robertson]

Weight-Loss Diets Designed for Adults May Cause Children to Gain Weight

By  Peggy Peck


Reviewed By Brunilda  Nazario, MD
on Thursday, March 04, 2004
WebMD Medical News

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March 4, 2004 (San Francisco) -- While a low-carb diet may add up to quick 
weight loss in adults, preschool children who cut back on carbs are likely 
to end up as fat teens, according to new findings from researchers with the 
Framingham Children's Study, an offshoot of the ongoing Framingham Heart 
Study.


When children ages 3 to 5 are fed low-carb diets, the results show up during 
their teens, says Framingham researcher Lynn Moore, DSc, associate professor 
of medicine at Boston University.


And that's not all. Moore tells WebMD that both low- and high-fat diets 
during the formative years also add up to flabby teens.


She says that one way to protect against teenage obesity is to increase 
intake of dairy products among 3- to 5-year-olds. Children who averaged than 
more than two glasses of milk or more than two servings of cheese or yogurt 
a day were more than an inch slimmer as teenagers.


Moore says that the minerals calcium and magnesium are probably the major 
players in preventing normal-weight kids from turning into plump teens. 
Dairy, fruits, and vegetables all add up to leaner teenage years, she says.


Green leafy vegetables are rich in magnesium. Unrefined grains and nuts also 
have high magnesium content.


But kids who eat high-fat diets -- meaning that more than 35% of their 
calories come from fat-laden foods -- accumulate about "an inch more in body 
fat" by the time they reach their teens, she says. When little children are 
fed low-carb diets, they average about three-quarters of an inch in added 
girth by the teenage years.

More:
http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/83/97667




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