Tweens run higher risk of getting fat

I hesitate to post a story like this, as, with a growing daughter of my own, I'm hyper-aware of the pressure put on girls and young women to meet unrealistic standards of beauty. However, a recent study suggests that tweens are more prone to weight gain than teenagers, and that obesity in early adolesce can be a serious health concern.

While the study didn't offer an answer as to why younger girls were more at risk, it did note that overweight pre-teens were seeing an increase in blood pressure and cholesterol levels. More alarmingly, these chubby tweens are ten times more likely to grow into fat adults.

Other studies have shown that these early adolescent years are when kids stop listening to their parents, and start eating what they want. This, coupled with a reduction in physical activity, may be a cause of the problem.

But the question is, how do we address pre-teen health and fitness without making it more difficult to navigate the tumultuous tween years?