Participants in many of these studies did lose significant amounts of weight, Luttikhuis and her colleagues report, but differences in the ways the studies were designed and their quality made it.

And it's important for parents to get involved, especially for pre-adolescent children, Dr. The current review is an update of the first one, done in 2003. The new review incorporates randomized, controlled trials published as recently as including 12 targeting increased activity; 6 focused on diet; 36 of behavioral treatment; and 10 of drug therapy. Lifestyle changes benefit overweight kids NEW YORK ( Health) € Efforts to fight obesity among children and teens should include strategies to help them think differently about their eating and exercise habits, researchers conclude based on a review of 64 studies of lifestyle "therapy" and drug interventions. Hiltje Oude Luttikhuis, of the Margarethe Children's Hospital in Groningen, The Netherlands, and her colleagues say. No direct conclusions could be drawn from the earlier review, Luttikhuis and her team note, because of the small size of many of the studies as well as quality concerns. The review is published in the Cochrane Library, which is put out by The Cochrane Collaboration, an international group that produces systematic reviews of health care interventions.

The studies included 5,230 children in all.