Diet Foods May Promote Child Obesity

Diet sodas and other noncalorie and low-calorie foods may be contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic, new research suggests. The studies involved young rats, not children, but researchers say the findings indicate that eating diet foods early in life may inadvertently lead to overeating and obesity later on. Juvenile rats in the study fed sweet or salty low-calorie foods over time later overate when fed similar tasting calorie-dense foods, suggesting that the low-calorie foods disrupted the body's ability to recognize calories and regulate energy intake. This was especially true among young rats genetically predisposed to become obese. Researcher W. David Pierce, PhD, acknowledges that extrapolating the findings to human children is a big leap. But the University of Alberta sociology professor says the rat studies may provide important clues about how early taste conditioning leads to overeating and obesity.

The study is published in the August issue of the journal Obesity.

Steve - we do not need a rat study to prove this. We have had thousands of clients come to us that have been on "diet" everything and never lost a pound.