For obese teens, weight woes persist into young adulthood

WASHINGTON - A new Australian study has indicated that the older teens get, the more likely they are to pack on pounds, and obesity rates climb sharply between adolescence and young adulthood.

Between 1992 and 2003, Patton and colleagues tracked the height, weight and body mass index (BMI) of 1,520 teens, starting at age 14 and continuing through age 24.

By mid-adolescence, one in five teens was overweight, but by age 24, that proportion increased to one in three. Forty percent of overweight young adults had never even been overweight during the teens, the authors reported in the study.

“For the group who were consistently obese as teenagers, over 60 percent were still obese, and none got to a normal healthy weight,” said George Patton, director of the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Victoria.

The study appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. (ANI)