Counseling Kids On Diet Pays Off!
A study published in the American Heart Association Journal recently compared 540 children assigned to a dietary counseling group to 522 who did not get special diet advice, starting from seven months of age and found that regular counseling of families and children about the benefits of avoiding saturated fats in their diet led to diets lower in fat and saturated fat, and reduced blood cholesterol levels in children up to the age of 14. There were no differences in stature between counseled children and those who were not, suggesting a low-fat diet can pay dividends from the start without affecting growth. Among the findings, counseling seemed to have a bigger impact on the cholesterol level of boys than girls. The researchers were not sure why. The counseled children also ate more protein and carbohydrates than those who received no dietary advice. “At age 14, the dietary group had a small but statistically significant lower median cholesterol level,” the Heart Association said in a statement. Families in the counseling group received regular advice from a nutritionist and the children were counseled directly from the age of seven.
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