CBS
March 13, 2008
A new report titled "Preventing Childhood Obesity" presented at the American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition shows teaching children at a young age good eating habits could help them avoid gaining unnecessary weight.
Preschoolers took part in a University of Miami experiment designed to prevent childhood obesity.
Dr. Sarah Messiah of UM said, "We wanted to keep normal weight children, normal weight so it's really a prevention intervention."
Dr. Ruby Nathale also of UM added, "This was a prevention study. So we didn't want kids to lose weight, we just wanted to prevent them from becoming obese."
The "Preventing Childhood Obesity" report shows the plan is working.
Children in the program stopped eating chips. Cookie consumption dropped by 50%, and fresh fruit and vegetable consumption increased by 25% even at home.