Diet and exercise work for kids, too

Children, like their parents, are putting on the pounds. Government health statistics show that 15 percent of all kids between ages 6 and 19 are overweight--up from 4 to 6 percent in the early 1970s. And overweight kids, like overweight adults, can face serious health problems.

A study published this month in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation includes a sobering finding: The arteries of overweight children act very much like those of middle-aged smokers. Prof. Kam S. Woo, M.D., of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at Prince of Wales Hospital at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the study's principal author, says: "This carries great health implications and should prompt parents and public-health authorities to do more to deal with the effects of overweight and obesity in children."

Prof. Woo and his colleagues enlisted 82 overweight children ages 9 to 12 to study the effects of diet, exercise, or both on their arteries. Half the kids observed a low-fat, moderate-calorie diet; the others followed the diet and a twice-weekly exercise regimen. The initial test lasted six weeks; afterward the diet-only group and half the diet-and-exercise group kept at it, but with exercise reduced to a weekly session. The researchers checked the kids' body-mass index (a standard measure of obesity), cholesterol levels, and the size and condition of their arteries.

At the end of six weeks, the researchers saw little change in weight or body-mass index, but significant reductions in the so-called "bad" cholesterol levels and significant improvements in the conditions of their arteries. The diet-plus-exercise group showed the greatest improvement.

At the end of a year, the kids who continued the diet-and-exercise regimen continued to show significant improvements in cholesterol levels and the health of their arteries.

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