A Successful Strategy for Weight Loss in Adolescents

Motivating obese children, especially adolescents, to lose weight can be difficult. Until recently, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found that evidence for effective weight-loss interventions in the pediatric population was inadequate. Now, the USPSTF recommends that clinicians screen children aged 6 years and older and offer (or refer to) intensive counseling and behavioral interventions to promote improvements in weight status (JW Pediatr Adolesc Med Feb 10 2010). Some studies suggest that obese children eat more rapidly than their nonobese counterparts. In the current study, researchers used a feedback device (the Mandometer) to train obese adolescents to reduce food intake and eating speed. The Mandometer graphs how qui…