Training through behavioral interventions help to reduce the obesity problems in children. This is reported in the ongoing research on obesity at Obesity 2011: The Obesity Society 29th Annual Scientific Meeting.
The research is conducted in 12 pediatric practices at Southern Pennsylvania. Obesity puts the children at greater health risks and it worsens at the later stages. Even in the childhood it may lead to type 2 diabetes, hypertension and non alcoholic fatty liver diseases. The primary care practices at the pediatrics help in the front line diagnosis, thus preventing children from becoming obese. There are physicians who are of the view that they do not possess the expertise of for the successful intervention of the disease.
To close this gap, A Smart step Project is designed by Dr. Gill and his colleagues. This is just to see whether the training at the pediatric clinicians can conduct behavioral interventions with the families of the victims and if that could help in stopping the excessive weight gain problems.
About 28 clinicians received training and learn different ways to foster a healthy lifestyle changes in the patients as well as their parents. Children under study were of age 8-12 and had no history of chronic diseases. All were simply overweight, having a BMI of 85-95%. These were divided into groups of three and the focus was on improving their behavior like cutting their consumption of sweet beverages, increase use of water, encouraging physical activity, reducing time spent in front of TV and computers and intake of healthy food and nutritious drinks.
After six months the results revealed that, 172 children completed the baseline and follow up, the BMI results were statistically significant, and a difference of about 1kg between the children who follow than others. Dr. Gill concluded that with the help of proper training, the obesity preventive strategies can be successfully implemented at the pediatric settings from the very start.
The cooperation of parents as well as the children is required thus to control the hard to change the over eating habits. Intervention is necessary for the over weight children so to avoid them from becoming obese.