调查显示，17％的2～19岁美国青少年患肥胖症，因此肥胖是未来影响人们健康的主要危险因素之一。最近发表的研究文献（见下文）提示，改变父母的某些行为有利于肥胖儿童的减肥。

　　研究人员发现，给肥胖的儿童之父母亲办班讲授“如何阅读食品标签？如何估计食品的份量？和要求父母亲给孩子们树立榜样等”，仅仅6个月就可让其肥胖的孩子减轻体重指数10％。

　　研究人员强调，父母亲必须知道他们的孩子吃多少是健康的，应该吃什么而不应该吃什么？必须知道每天应该进行户外多长时间等？并坚持让孩子们多吃水果与蔬菜，每天看电视的时间不得超过2小时，用低脂油炒菜和多作家务，及避免或尽量少喝含糖较多的饮料等。

　　更多资讯，请参阅下文！

　　TUESDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- It is hard to help overweight children lose weight, and keeping it off over the long-term is even tougher. But obese children whose parents took classes on the importance of healthy eating and exercise lost weight and kept it off for the next two years, according to a new Australian study.

　　Researchers said the study shows that targeting parents -- rather than the children -- can help stave off weight gain in children aged 5 to 9.

　　"We believe it makes developmental sense to involve only parents," said lead study author Anthea Magarey, a senior research associate of nutrition and dietetics, at Flinders University School of Medicine in Adelaide, Australia, where the study took place. "It takes the stigma away from the child and supports a whole family approach."

　　The study findings were released online in advance of publication in the February issue of Pediatrics.

　　For young children, parents play a huge role in their eating and exercise habits, Magarey explained. The kids are still spending most of their time at home and eating most meals at home. Parents buy and prepare food, and decide what and how much kids can eat. They are responsible for providing opportunities for children to be active and can set rules for TV and video game use.

　　The researchers enrolled mostly mothers of 169 moderately obese or overweight children aged 5 to 9 years in a six-month "healthy lifestyle" course, in which parents were taught about portion size and reading nutrition labels, being a good role model for their children and setting limits. (Half of the parents also took a parenting course, although the study authors found little difference between the two groups).

　　At the end of six months, childrens body mass index (a measurement that takes into account weight and height) dropped an average of 10 percent, as did their waist circumference. Eighteen months later, the children had kept the weight off, the investigators found.

　　In the United States, about 17 percent of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years are obese, a number that has been increasing since the 1970s, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

　　About 24 percent of U.S. children aged 2 to 5 are overweight, meaning they have a BMI in the 85th percentile or above for their height and age. That number rises to 33 percent among children aged 6 to 11, according to the CDC.

　　After the healthy lifestyle sessions, parents said they felt more comfortable saying "no" to their childrens demands, setting limits on the type of food the children could eat, limiting the amount of time they spent watching TV or playing video games, and establishing consequences for breaking the rules.

　　Parents assessed their own current eating patterns and set their own goals for change, such as limiting TV to no more than two hours a day, doing more active family activities and making small dietary changes that can go a long way, such as eating more fruit and vegetables, using reduced-fat dairy products and drinking fewer sweetened beverages such as sodas.

　　Kathy Kolasa, a professor of nutrition services and patient education at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., said she does not believe children have to be excluded from obesity prevention programs because of the risk of stigmatizing them.

　　But making sure parents know about nutrition, portion size and how to make sure their children are getting enough physical activity is critical.

　　"In my experience, there are plenty of parents who tell me they know what to feed their kids and that they are eating healthy," Kolasa said. "When we analyze their diet, they are surprised that they are not following or providing age-appropriate portions and healthy foods for their kids."

　　As for the parents included in the study, their weight did not change over the two years.

　　SOURCES: Anthea Magarey, Ph.D., senior research associate, nutrition and dietetics, Flinders University School of Medicine, Adelaide, Australia; Kathryn M. Kolasa, Ph.D., R.D., professor, nutrition services and patient education, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.; February 2011, Pediatrics