Conference rocks::weight_control

510.0. "Dieting and children" by ANT::ZARLENGA (you got sirens for a welcome) Mon Sep 11 1989 12:36

                  No-Fat Diet Can Mean Low-Growth Kids

	If you're thinking about putting your preschool children
    on a diet, you'd better know what you're doing.
    
    	Pediatricians at the North Shore University Hospital in
    Manhasset, New York, reviewed 40 cases of young children who
    were placed on low-fat diets because of high cholesterol levels,
    and found that 8 weren't eating enough to grow normally: 5 were
    significantly underweight, and 3 were suffering from nutritional
    dwarfing.

	The doctors say that any recommendation to restrict diet during
    the first 20 years of life (!!) should be viewed with caution.
    After age 2, however, it is all right to cut the child's fat intake
    to 30% of  their diet - the same level recommended for adults.

	But be sure to consult with a dietition with pediatric
    experience before starting.

      (American Journal of Diseases of Children, 143, no.5 (1989):537-42)