A good read may lead to healthy lifestyle changes in overweight girls

I love behavioral health research with a creative design so I was pleasantly surprised when I was tipped off to Tara Parker-Pope'€™s piece in the New York Times this week, Healthful Messages Wrapped in Fiction.She reported on a Duke University study that basically had overweight tween girls (ages 9-13) in a obesity prevention program split into three groups: (1) one group read a Beacon Street Girls Series novel focused on the classic middle school angst around weight, feeling fat, being teased, and ways the character coped, (2) another group read an installment of the same series around self-esteem only, and (3) a third group did not receive anything.

The interesting results: Girls in the first group who read about the girl with the weight issues changed their behavior around eating and physical activity to be more healthy and thoughtful â€" resulting in a slightly lower BMI -- which, if apparently sustained for these girls, could mean growing into teenagers with a healthier weight. The second group also showed positive gains in healthy lifestyle habits although not as great; and the reading-deprived group showed a slight increase in BMI.

Of course, there is the question of whether statistical significance translates into clinical significance. But to me the important points were that fiction may a viable way to communicate to kids about healthy choices in scenarios that readers can connect to (rather than us grown ups and health educators stammering over and over again about eating your fruits and veggies). And, also that small changes -- early enough in one'€™s development -- could lead to sustained healthy habits to carry through life. Time will tell if the researchers follow these girls long enough.

(The study was originally presented earlier this month at the Obesity Society'€™s annual conference, lead author: Alexandra C. Russell, medical student, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, N.C.)

The second reason I was delighted to read the story is that I used to live on Beacon Street and when this series came out I was still living in Brookline, MA. The story hit the local press at the time and the shelves of Brookline Booksmith, the neighbor bookseller with the best guest writer talks in Boston area. I was impressed with the mission of B*tween Productions who created the Beacon Street Girls series. At the time I thought the books series was a brilliant idea. Now, with a daughter about to turn 11, this is a great reminder to start her on this book series (if she could stop reading the Harry Potter series again -- this time in reverse order).