Dieting may make young girls put on the pounds

Girls who are starting to get too pudgy at age 5 are often experienced dieters by age 9 -- but they put on extra pounds instead of taking them off, researchers say.

Jennifer Shunk and Leann Birch of Pennsylvania State University studied 153 girls in central Pennsylvania. At age 5, 32 of them were considered at risk of being overweight by federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards. They were checked again at ages 7 and 9. At age 7, girls at risk were eating significantly more than those not at risk, the researchers wrote in Tuesday’s edition of the Journal of the American Dietetic Assn.

The researchers said their work supported other studies showing that when people try to diet by eating too little, they set themselves up for binges. Middle-class families, especially, try to restrict snacks because they do not want overweight children, they wrote. “However, rather than promoting moderation, these feeding practices can promote disregulated overeating in children,” the researchers said.