An adolescent weight reduction program including meal replacements and parental involvement decreases body weight and fat mass of obese adolescents.

Objective: Obesity has increased 4-fold in prevalence in the past 30 years in US teenagers. Many obese teens require intensive intervention to avoid becoming obese adults. This study was designed to determine if parental education had a significant effect on weight loss for obese teens in an intense behavioral energy-restricted diet program.

Method: Fifteen obese adolescents ages 13 to 18 years old with a BMI above the 95th percentile for age [mean BMI: 35.6 kg/m²; 48.6% fat weight (DXA)] were enrolled in a 16-week weight reduction program. The Health Management Resources™ (HMR®) program was tailored to these teens and included the use of 42 meal replacements and 35 cups of fruit and vegetables per week, and a minimum of 2000 physical activity kcals per week. Half of the parents were randomly allocated to a group that was given instruction on supporting their adolescents. Initial and 16-week assessments were measured for body composition using DXA and physical activity using pedometers and calculating kcals used during exercise.

Results: The participants lost 11.4 (±1.7 SE) kg body weight, an 11.3% (±1.6% SE) loss of initial body weight (p<.001) over 16-weeks. Body fat decreased by an average of 8.7% (±1.6%, p<.001). Final body fat percentage was 44.3% for the entire group. Weight reduction for those who had parents in the parent group lost 14.1 kg (±2.4) and 13.2% (±2.4) of their initial body weight; the non-parent group lost 8.8 kg (±2.2) and 9.3% (±2.2) of their initial body weight. Body fat decreased from initial by 12.4% (±1.1) in the parent group (p<.001) and 4.3% (±2.0) in the non-parent group. The parent group lost 8.1% more body fat (p<.01) than the non-parent group.

Conclusion: An intensive weight-loss program designed for obese adolescents including 6 meal replacements per day, and increased physical activity, significantly decreased their initial body weight and percent body fat over the 16-weeks of the study. Those adolescents with parents involved in a structured support group lost a greater amount of body fat than those who did not have specific parent training.