overweight •

Children having two breakfasts might be healthier than those who skip breakfast

STATES CHRONICLE – If you happen to be a fan of the Lord of the Rings you definitely know the very long list of meals that hobbits have in only one day, which included two breakfasts. While that was fantasy, it turns out that having two breakfasts is actually better for children and you could probably convince them to eat by telling them about Merry and Pippin.

How can eating two breakfasts help? After all, we are all afraid that our children will be eating too much and too unhealthy and will become overweight. Well, according to a new study conducted by a team at Yale School of Public Health, middle school students who eat breakfast at school are less likely to become overweight or risk obesity than the ones who skip breakfast.

So, even if your kid has had breakfast at home, you might want to encourage them to eat at school too. This isn’t the first study that looks at the benefits of having breakfast at school. Previous studies have showed that eating breakfast in school can be associated with a healthy body weight, better health overall and improved academic performance.

However, it was feared that a second breakfast might lead to gaining too much weight, but this recent study proves there is no need to worry. The study showed that students skipping breakfast or having it inconsistently were twice as likely to become obese than the ones who had double breakfasts. Moreover, comparing the ones who ate two breakfasts with the ones who ate only one, there was no difference in weight gain from 5^th to 7^th grade.

The problem is that many of the America’s obese people are children. One-third of the kids between 6 and 11 are either overweight or obese and everyone is working to find solutions to these problems.

Children need to have a balanced diet, which means not only to eat healthy, but also to eat at normal hours without skipping any meals. Policy makers are thinking that a good solution would be introducing and promoting breakfast in schools but studies are being conducted to make sure this plan will work and will not lead instead to en excess of calories.

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The number of obese persons in the U.S. raises and obesity comes at a pack with multiple health problems. However, one of the most important consequence derived from obesity is the increased risk of suffering from a heart disease.

A new research led researchers to conclude that overweight persons who show signs of developing a heart disease should be sent for “intensive behavioral counseling”. A couple of symptoms may turn overweight persons into candidates for the new recommended procedure. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, ‘metabolic syndrome’ or increased blood sugar levels are among the indicators.

The United States Preventive Services Task Force commissioned a study involving a review of 74 studies focused on medical interventions to change lifestyles.

“My message for patients would be that we have the ability by changing our behavior to modify our risk for heart disease and stroke and your doctors can help you do that,” Dr. Michael L. LeFevre, the chair of the Task Force, told Reuters. “The most important thing that we can do right now is have you lose some weight, be more active but just offering that advice and giving you a pamphlet, we don’t really find any evidence that that’s helpful.”

Fortunately, the rate of hospitalization for patients with heart diseases significantly dropped during the last decade, according to another recent research. Without any medical breakthroughs in the last decade, most of the success can be attributed to adjusted health care and healthier behavior.

Intensive behavioral counseling involves large well-funded health organizations

An intensive behavioral counseling would involve a period of several months or even a year. During that time, the patient would be offered personalized sessions with nutritionists and other experts, while doing routine exercises. According to the study, the method will have long-term benefits. Even if the recommendations do not come as a shocker, the Task Force may have the possibility to further transmit the idea to government agencies.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Jennifer S. Lin of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland Oregon, underlines that this principle would be face difficulties during implementation, because of the lack of resources in the health system. She advocates for resource allocation specifically for such a program of intensive behavioral counseling, as it produces long-term health benefits, albeit incremental. Only large scale organizations have the resources and logistics to offer this type of counseling at the moment, Lin added, according to Reuters.

Breakfast Is Very Important for Students

Overweight People Should Follow Intensive Behavioral Counseling, Study Finds

Intensive behavioral counseling involves large well-funded health organizations

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