Toronto Star: Study shows reading helps kids slim down

Study shows reading helps kids slim down

Diana Zlomislic, Toronto Star, October 06, 2008

She hates shopping because nothing fits. She's got high blood pressure and her cholesterol is through the roof. And she's just 12.

What's an overweight tween-ager to do? Start reading, a new study suggests.In the first study to look at the impact of literature on adolescent obesity, researchers at Duke Children's Hospital, in North Carolina, discovered reading the right type of novel can help kids lose weight.

Researchers asked 31 obese girls ages 9 to 13, who were already enrolled in a weight-loss program, to read an age-appropriate novel called Lake Rescue (Beacon Street Girls), whose protagonist derides herself as "the big girl" at school. The novel was written with the help of pediatric experts to include the latest research on weight management. Healthy lessons and positive messages are woven into the adventure-heavy plot. As the story evolves, the novel's heroine learns to make healthier lifestyle choices and finds a mentor to help her.

A group of 33 girls read a different book called Charlotte in Paris, which did not have an overweight protagonist, and another group of 17 girls read neither novel.

"We didn't tell the girls which book was supposed to help them," says Alexandra Russell, a fourth-year medical student at Duke who led the study and presented the findings at the Obesity Society's annual scientific meeting in Arizona on the weekend.

After six months, researchers found both reading groups had lost weight but the girls who read Lake Rescue lost more. They lowered their Body Mass Index, a ratio of weight and height used to measure obesity, by just under 1 per cent.

While the BMI decrease is small, it's significant because the number typically increases more rapidly in obese children as they grow and develop, Russell said.

In Canada, more than a quarter of all children ages 2 to 17 are overweight or obese, Statistics Canada reports. The obesity rate of this age group has tripled over the past 25 years. Overweight kids suffer many medical complications, including hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, liver disease, pulmonary disorders and social isolation.

Obesity experts say there's a direct correlation between heavier children and the amount of TV they watch. Studies show having a TV in a child's bedroom increases their risk of being overweight.

"The best response that I got was from a 12-year-old girl who told me she used to like to read but then she started watching TV all the time," Russell says.

"She said she actually stopped watching TV so she could read all the time."