A federal task force is recommending that children and teens be screen for extra pounds as a way to fight the childhood obesity epidemic.
The task for also calls for referrals to a comprehensive program that includes dietary advice, physical activity and behavioral counseling to promote weight loss for children who are found to be obese based on their body mass index (BMI).
The new recommendations are an update to 2005 recommendations. For the update the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force reviewed 13 studies of behavioral intervention in nearly 1,300 obese children.
Moderate- to high-intensity programs, involving more than 25 hours of contact with the child and/or the family over a six-month period, resulted in a decrease in BMI 12 months after the beginning of the intervention.
In addition to dietary and physical activity counseling, effective programs included behavioral-management techniques such as self-monitoring and eating management. However, the programs only worked in children who followed through on treatment.
It is unclear if the recommendations can be applied to children who are overweight but not obese. And there was no convincing support for interventions that lasted less than 25 hours per six months, or for screening children below age six.
