Tween girls vulnerable to fatness

A study published in the January issue of the Journal of Pediatrics has revealed that girls are apt to gain weight in their tweens, between the ages of 9 and 12.

The study which was conducted on more than 2,300 white and black girls starting at age 9 did not observe the reason for the weight gain and did not observe boys to know whether they are equally vulnerable to such weight gain.

Researchers measured height, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol every year through 18 and then had the teens report their own measures at ages 21 through 23. The study highlighted the ramifications of adolescent weight gain. The blood pressure and cholesterol levels had already inched up in the obese tweens, supporting the earlier research that fat's toll on the arteries begins early.

Arlene Spark, associate professor of nutrition at Hunter College, in New York City said, "This shows that obesity and other risk factors for heart disease track from younger to older. This is a wake-up call for policymakers, for schools, for parents. The success rate for treatment is practically zero. The only thing that we can really hope for is that we can prevent children from becoming overweight and obese."

The study reported that the rates of overweight among the participants increased through adolescence. 7.4 percent of the white girls and 17.4 percent of the black girls were already overweight by 9. Girls were 1.6 times more likely to become overweight when they were aged 9 through 12 than later in adolescence. There were also racial differences, with black girls 1.5 times more likely to become overweight at any given age than white girls.

Simons-Morton, head of obesity-prevention efforts at the NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute observed that the tweens was a particularly vulnerable period and that parents should pay attention to increasing waistlines and poor dietary habits in that age group.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.