Adolescents are particularly susceptible to worries over weight and diet. Here’s what parents can do to stop these fears becoming serious health issues
If you want your child to be a healthy weight, don’t use the D word. Talking about diets or even weight is bad for all adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics said this week. The academy’s latest guidelines aim to prevent not only eating disorders but also obesity. They are particularly aimed at preventing teenagers who are trying to lose weight from tipping into eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. Neville Golden, professor of pediatrics at Stanford University Medical School and lead author of the guidelines, said that 40% of those admitted for eating disorders are dieters who got out of control. “Scientific evidence increasingly shows that, for teenagers, dieting is bad news,” he said.
Teenagers in the US who diet in ninth grade (around 15 years of age) are three times more likely than non-dieters to be overweight by 12th grade. But dieting is also the most important predictor for developing an eating disorder. Hence the academy’s new one-size-fits-all guidelines. Wellness is the word preferred to weight. But wellness needs to be managed, too. Eating disorders can start with teenagers wanting to eat “healthily” and eliminate “bad” foods. This can slip into skipping meals and severely restricting foods. Likewise, exercise can become compulsive – especially after people praise teenagers for losing weight.
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