Boys, Girls and Childhood Obesity

DO BOYS AND GIRLS FACE DIFFERENT RISK FACTORS WHEN IT COMES TO OBESITY AND HEART DISEASE? A NEW STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL PEDIATRICS COLLECTED HEALTH DATA FROM MORE THAN 17OO SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS. THE CHILDREN ALL UNDERWENT LABORATORY SCREENINGS, HAD PHYSICAL ASSESSMENTS AND ANSWERED QUESTIONNAIRES ABOUT THEIR ACTIVITY LEVEL AND EATING HABITS. THE RESEARCHERS LOOKED AT HEIGHT, WEIGHT, BLOOD PRESSURE, HEART RATE, CHOLESTEROL AND GLUCOSE LEVELS AND MORE. THEIR FINDINGS: NORMAL WEIGHT BOYS AND GIRLS HAD SIGNIFICANTLY HEALTHIER TEST RESULTS COMPARED WITH STUDENTS WHO WERE OBESE. THEY ALSO DISCOVERED TWO BEHAVIORS THAT WERE CLEARLY LINKED TO OBESITY IN BOTH GENDERS. REGULARLY EATING SCHOOL LUNCHES AND WATCHING TWO OR MORE HOURS OF TELEVISION PER DAY. BUT THERE WERE GENDER DIFFERENCES, AS WELL.BOYS WHO PARTICIPATED IN VIGOROUS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SCHOOL SPORTS APPEARED TO BE PROTECTED AGAINST OBESITY.WHILE FOR GIRLS, MILK CONSUMPTION APPEARED TO HELP WARD OFF SEVERE WEIGHT PROBLEMS.I’m Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV with the health news that matters to you.