Teen Pregnancy and Weight Loss: We are What We Watch/Read

In case you missed it...here's a couple of interesting health notes for tween-aged girls.

1. Read a book, lose weight!
At Duke Children's Hospital, a study followed 31 obese girls. Some were given an age-appropriate novel to read about an overweight girl who alters her lifestyle, loses weight and feels better. The book, Lake Rescue, was created for this project and written with the help of health experts. Guess what? The girls who read the book lowered their BMI while the other girls didn't. Wow!

2. TV and Teen Pregnancy
A Rand Corporation study published this fall demonstrated a link between watching high levels of sexual content on TV and increased likelihood of teen pregnancy. The study followed almost 1,000 girls ages 12 through 17 and found that the teens watching the most sexualized content were twice as likely to get pregnant.

One explanation is that "teens" engaging in sex on TV rarely talk about contraception or other negative consequences of early sex, like SDTs or unwanted pregnancy. (And of course, most teens on TV are played by 20-somethings.)

I myself am a secret fan of "Gossip Girl" (I suppose now it's not so secret). But this is a show where every teen kid is having sex and there's never a mention of a condom.

So it looks like your grandma was right--books are good. TV is bad.

Actually, the Rand study acknowledged that TV shows and movies highlighting the risks of sex also were effective. So TV can be entertaining and beneficial, but it takes a brave network to opt for healthy over hot.

The bottom line: Pay attention to what your daughter reads and watches. It could change her life.