Social media could combat childhood obesity

Tuesday December 4th, 2012

The medical profession should embrace social media as a tool to help children overcome obesity, it was claimed last night.

An American study says that as about 95 per cent of 12- to 17-year-old children have internet access at home and/or in school, online social network health interventions should be explored as an effective way to prevent or manage excessive weight.

Writing in yesterday’s (December 3) edition of Circulation, study author Dr Jennifer Li, division chief of paediatric cardiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, said higher levels of parental involvement and more interaction with counsellors and peers was associated with greater success rates for overweight children and teens who participated in an online intervention.

People who are overweight or obese tend to share a home or spend their leisure time with others who are overweight or obese, she said.

“Athletes tend to hang out with athletes, and overweight kids hang out together so they reinforce each other’s eating habits or preferences for recreational activities,” said Dr Li.

“Some research shows that even in virtual social networks, people tend to associate with others like themselves, so if you develop a network of kids who are overweight, you can have an impact on all of them — in the real world and online — because if one starts making healthy changes, the others will be influenced to do so as well.”

There are a number of pitfalls with social media, including exposure to cyber bullying, privacy issues, sexting and internet addiction that can cause sleep deprivation, that have to be addressed, however, she added.

Dr Li and colleagues say that the medical profession, policy makers and researchers should use social networks to launch interventions that enable users to start and maintain changes in their behaviour and allow them to monitor their progress, set goals and problem-solve.

“Teenagers are texting and using Facebook and other social media as their primary communication with their peers, and we need to find out what factors can be incorporated into social media that will increase the effectiveness of these interventions to initiate and maintain weight loss in kids and adolescents,” Dr Li added.

Li J et al. Approaches to the Prevention and Management of Childhood Obesity: The Role of Social Networks and the Use of Social Media and Related Electronic Technologies A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation doi: 10.1161/CIR.0b013e3182756d8e

Tags: Child Health | Diet & Food | Fitness | General Health | North America

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