Getting your player ready...
CHICAGO — An influential advisory panel says school-age youngsters and teens should be screened for obesity and sent to intensive behavior treatment if they need to lose weight.
Treating obese kids can help them lose weight, the panel of doctors said in issuing guidelines today. But that is only if it involves rigorous diet, activity and behavior counseling.
Just five years ago, the same panel — the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — found few benefits from pediatric obesity programs. Since then, the task force said, studies have shown success. The new advice, published online in the journal Pediatrics, could serve as a template for creating obesity programs.
