New Tactics Tackle Eating Disorders in Kids
September 4th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Researchers report good results from two new programs aimed at preventing and treating dangerous eating disorders in children.
Harvard investigators report middle school girls who participated in a specially designed obesity prevention program at school were significantly less likely to develop harmful eating habits or weight loss behaviors, like vomiting, abusing laxatives or using diet pills, than those who received regular health education.
The program, dubbed 5-2-1-Go!, calls for kids to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, limit television screen time to two hours, and get at least one hour of physical activity. Nearly 4 percent of girls in the traditional health program offered by schools began exhibiting dangerous eating and weight loss symptoms, compared to 1 percent of those in the 5-2-1-Go! program.
In a second study, University of Chicago Medical Center investigators compared two different programs designed to treat about 80 kids with the binge and purging disorder known as bulimia. Half of the children took part in a program involving parents and, sometimes, siblings in the counseling. The other half of the children in the study received standard psychotherapy.
Nearly 40 percent of the kids in the family-based program stopped the harmful behavior, compared to just 18 percent receiving standard care. Six months later, 30 percent of those in the family based group were still abstaining from harmful behaviors, versus just 10 percent of those in the psychotherapy group.
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SOURCE: Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 2007;161:865-869; Archives of General Psychiatry, 2007;64:1049-1056