A recent study found that overweight teens are more likely to practice extreme dieting measures or develop eating disorders if their parents focus too much on weight issues. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota, tracked the eating habits of 1,311 girls and 1,069 boys for a five year period.

"Weight-teasing by family, personal weight concerns and dieting/unhealthy weight-control behaviors 'strong and consistently' predicted being overweight, binge eating, and engaging in extreme weight-control behaviors..."

However, frequent family meals, frequent lunch eating, and a positive atmosphere at family meals appeared to reduce the risk for both binge eating and extreme weight-control measures over time.

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Labels: family, healthy_eating, support