OBESITY AND GRADES FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS

The News Update section of the AACAP News from May/June 2014 reported on a study from the United Kingdom that was epublished ahead of print in the International Journal od Obesity (Lond) by Booth, JN et al. The study followed 6,000 adolescents from age 11 to 16.  They assessed their achievement scores in English, math, and science at ages 11, 13, and 16. They controlled for a number of factors including socioeconomic status, IQ, mental health and age of menarche. They found that who were obese at age 11, performed much worse academically than their normal weight peers at age 13 and 16.  The difference was the equivalent of one letter grade and could be enough to keep the obese girls from getting into a college.  The impact on grades was not clear for obese male adolescents.

It has been established that obese children and adolescents are at higher risk for a number of medical problems, including psychiatric disorders.  Now it seems that learning is also compromised. It is encouraging that, as I have previously blogged, the percent of children who are obese is going down.  This may be related to efforts to improve their diets by restricting poor food choices in schools and educating children and their parents about healthy diets. Also, Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program reinforces healthy food choices and excercising.  All this is helping and the stakes are high considering all the health problems and now,learning problems associated with obesity.  Maybe it is time to have a national (international?) effort to get people to "just say no to fast food."