Diet and Weight Loss

While adults who have a problem with their weight can take an herbal diet supplement or work out more often to try to get their size under control, it can sometimes be more difficult for children who are obese to fix the problem. Furthermore, being overweight as a child has been connected to chronic diseases later in life, such as obesity and diabetes. 

Recently, research published in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM) found that a childhood diet that's high in fiber and low in fat can lower a person's risk of developing metabolic syndrome. This is a condition characterized by abdominal obesity, low levels of "good" cholesterol and elevated blood pressure.

Scientists found that children who were put on this type of diet saw the positive results years later.

"Significant differences at the follow-up visit, but not earlier, suggest that adolescent diet may have long-term effects on age-related changes in blood pressure and glycemic control that begin to become apparent in young adulthood," said researcher Joanne Dorgan, Ph.D.

Study participants were encouraged to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and to limit the amount of calories they got from fat each day to 28 percent.
 

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