By Carol Church, Writer, Family Album
Reviewed by Agata Kowalewska, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida
Most of us agree that childhood overweight and obesity are real problems in this country. But it’s one thing to know that on an intellectual level, and another to be the parent of a child whose weight is considered a health risk. Moms and dads worry, and rightly so, about the best way to effectively help their kids without causing body image problems or other issues around food and eating. At the same time, no one wants their son or daughter to develop health problems associated with obesity, like high blood pressure, joint problems, high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes.
Can Health be Improved Without Weight Loss?
But are there ways to reduce the chances that a heavy child will experience health consequences, even without losing weight? A new nutrition study suggests so.
In this study, scientists did extensive health assessments of 175 overweight Latino children between the ages of 8 and 18. They looked at the health of the children’s livers, their insulin sensitivity, their total body fat composition, and their amount of “belly fat.” These markers can indicate whether someone will be prone to type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.
Diet Choices Can Make the Difference
Then, the researchers looked at the children’s diets. They focused on how often the children ate vegetables, and what specific kind of vegetables they ate–or didn’t eat. In particular, they wanted to know whether eating more non-starchy vegetables (this group includes many types of veggies, but excludes potatoes, corn, peas, and beans) and nutrient-rich veggies (dark green and yellow/orange veggies like spinach and sweet potatoes) would have an impact.
In fact, vegetables did seem to make important differences to the health of these overweight children. Kids with higher vegetable consumption had less fat in their livers, lower amounts of dangerous fat in their abdomens, and showed fewer pre-diabetes markers. Though they were still overweight, these children were at less risk of poor health–all because of how they ate.
Small Changes Are Effective
Of course, parents who struggle to get their children to eat veggies might wonder if they can really make a difference here. But it’s important to note that the healthier children in this study weren’t eating really large quantities of vegetables by any means—a bit over 2 servings a day. What’s more, children who saw positive effects from eating nutrient-rich veggies were eating just half a serving daily of these foods. This is only about a quarter cup of carrots or broccoli! Not a lot of veggies for an important boost to health.
This research is good news for parents who worry about the health consequences of obesity in children. While being at a healthy weight is important, eating patterns really matter, too. It’s just like your mom always said: eat your vegetables!
(Photo credit: Yammy by Alexander Bolotnov. CC BY 2.0. Cropped.)
Further Reading:
What Vegetables are in the Vegetable Group?—From the USDA. This page lists starchy and non-starchy vegetables, as well as dark green and red/orange vegetables.
Nonstarchy Vegetables–From the American Diabetes Association. More on nonstarchy vegetables.
References:
Cook LT, O’Reilly GA, Goran MI, Weigensberg MJ, Spruijt-Metz D, Davis JN. Vegetable Consumption Is Linked to Decreased Visceral and Liver Fat and Improved Insulin Resistance in Overweight Latino Youth. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.01.017
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