MINNEAPOLIS, JUNE 4, 2008—University of Minnesota School of Public Health researchers found that parents who know their teen children are overweight still failed to lead them to better health habits.

In fact, many of these parents encouraged dieting, which led to poorer weight outcomes for their teen five years later.

Project Eating Among Teens (EAT) researchers found that overweight teens, especially girls, who were encouraged by their parents to diet for weight control were more likely to remain overweight five years later, compared with their peers whose parents did not encourage dieting.

More than 66 percent of the teen girls whose parents encouraged them to diet remained overweight five years later, compared with only 43 percent of teen girls who were not encouraged to diet.

For teen boys, a similar trend was found. However, 74 percent of teen boys who had parental encouragement to diet remained overweight five years later compared with 51 percent of teen boys who did not.

Note: The MMA offers numerous tips for patients wishing to address weight issues here.

Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, lead author of the study and principal investigator for Project EAT said, “Our findings suggest that less emphasis should be placed on informing parents that their children are overweight, and more emphasis should be placed on providing parents with the information, tools, and support to help their children make healthier eating and physical activity choices.”

This idea is the premise of her book, I’m, Like So Fat!

Neumark-Sztainer told the Star Tribune's Josephine Marcotty that she decided to research the issue because of the growing practice of schools evaluating kids' weight and sending the results home to parents.

The study, “Accurate Parental Classification of Overweight Adolescents’ Weight Status: Does it Matter?” will appear in the June issue of Pediatrics and online on June 2.

University of Minnesota news release