Overweight children can lose weight by incorporating peanuts into their regular diet. At least, that’s what research published in the December issue of Pediatrics suggests.
High risk overweight adolescents, ages 10-15 can lose weight while substituting an ounce of peanuts or peanut butter for other less healthy snack choices. The study, “Weight Loss in Overweight Mexican American Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial” describes the “Family Lifestyle and Overweight” (FLOW) Prevention Program, which is in a school setting. It is being conducted by Baylor College of Medicine and the United States Department of Agriculture- Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) Children’s Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas.
This study is highly significant because it is one of the first to show that the highest risk minority group, Mexican-Americans, can successfully lose weight and improve blood lipids in a school-based intensive intervention program. This is an important feat considering 37 percent of Mexican-American children in the US are overweight and obese, which is even higher than the 34 percent of overweight children in the general population.
FLOW participants lost statistically significant amounts of weight at 3 months and were able to keep it off through 6 months, which is not often seen in weight loss programs. The intervention group also significantly reduced total and ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels at 6 months compared to the control group adolescents.
For more information, visit the Peanut Institute Website.