0:59

Are you getting frustrated with what to

1:02

feed a teenager who is always hungry ? Everybody

1:05

knows that teenagers have a huge appetite

1:07

. It seems like you need to feed them constantly

1:10

to satisfy their hunger . It's

1:12

even more difficult where teenagers who struggle

1:14

with their weight truly want to make

1:16

changes like cut down on junk food

1:19

or stop ever eating , and they can't . There's

1:22

frustration , isolation , stress

1:24

, and that's why I

1:26

decided to create a recipe

1:28

collection of 30 easy

1:30

and healthy meals for teenagers

1:33

. They're all high in protein

1:35

to satisfy your teenager's hunger

1:37

and they can all be ready in

1:40

less than 30 minutes . If

1:42

you want to grab a free copy

1:44

, go to lifestell14scom

1:46

for the last recipes .

2:00

This is the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens

2:03

podcast . If you are a mom

2:05

and want to help your child who is struggling to

2:07

lose weight , you are in the right place

2:09

. If you are looking for healthy lifestyle

2:11

tips , dr Gorgary is here to help

2:13

you understand the science around safe weight

2:15

loss in teens and children , because

2:17

what works for adult weight loss is not

2:19

always the best for children . This

2:22

podcast is for educational purposes only

2:24

. Dr Gorgary does not provide

2:26

medical , psychological or nutrition

2:28

therapy advice . You should not use

2:31

this information to diagnose or treat

2:33

any health problems without consulting your

2:35

own medical practitioner and now your

2:37

host , dr Jenny Gorgary

2:39

.

2:47

Hello , welcome to another episode of

2:49

the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens podcast

2:51

. This is Dr Jenny Gorgary

2:53

, and on today's

2:55

episode , I will talk

2:58

to you about the relationship

3:00

between attention

3:02

deficit , hyperactivity disorder

3:05

, which is ADHD , and

3:07

risk for overweight in children and

3:10

teenagers . I decided

3:12

to talk about this topic because ADHD

3:15

is one common condition

3:18

, is one of the most common neurodevelopmental

3:21

disorders that we see in children

3:23

and a lot of kids

3:25

have this and it's really a

3:27

combination of hyperactivity

3:31

and inattention , or

3:33

it could be less hyperactivity

3:36

and more inattention or

3:38

the other way around . So

3:41

it doesn't apply to all

3:43

children , but approximately

3:46

more or less like 10% of

3:48

the kids may have this

3:50

and it requires

3:52

symptoms that you see both in

3:55

school and at home and

3:57

there are specific criteria and

3:59

if you have any concerns that maybe your

4:01

child has ADHD , you

4:04

can talk more about it with

4:06

your child's pediatrician . Now

4:09

there is a lot of scientific

4:12

research on this topic , because

4:15

children that have ADHD

4:18

have some impulsive

4:21

behaviors and they can

4:23

have some inattention

4:26

overall . That can also

4:28

affect their eating behaviors

4:30

and their eating patterns . So

4:33

there have been a lot of studies that

4:35

show there has been an association

4:37

between attention

4:39

deficit hyperactivity disorder

4:42

in kids and risk for being

4:44

overweight . Now this

4:47

subject becomes a little more

4:49

complicated when those

4:51

kids start taking ADHD

4:53

medications . So these medications

4:56

can improve their symptoms

4:58

of hyperactivity and attention

5:00

, can improve school performance

5:03

, but they also have some

5:05

side effects in terms of

5:07

appetite regulation . So

5:11

some of these kids again , not

5:13

all of these kids can have decreased

5:15

appetite after they start these medications

5:18

. However , they also have

5:20

better control of these impulsive

5:23

behaviors . And again

5:25

, there are several ADHD

5:27

medications out there and not

5:29

all medications that are

5:32

used to treat ADHD have

5:34

the same effects on appetite

5:36

. There are also medications

5:39

that to treat ADHD that also

5:41

have effects on how

5:43

the kids grow . So you may

5:45

see that some of these kids

5:47

stop growing after they

5:49

are on ADHD and that can

5:51

also have an effect on

5:53

the risk for being overweight

5:55

. So it is not

5:58

one size fits all . There are

6:00

many implications to it , but

6:03

what I wanted to achieve

6:05

by this podcast episode is just

6:07

to give you an overview

6:09

and just some points

6:12

to think about and

6:14

maybe prompt you to have

6:17

further discussion with

6:19

your pediatrician

6:21

or your teenager if you

6:23

think that , potentially , adhd

6:26

could be a problem

6:28

in your teenager's

6:30

health . So

6:33

the study I'm going to present

6:35

today is called overweight

6:37

in children and adolescents in

6:40

relation to attention deficit hyperactivity

6:42

disorder results from

6:44

a national sample . It was

6:46

published in the Journal of Pediatrics

6:49

in 2008 . It was done

6:51

by Molly Waring and

6:53

Dr Kate LePen in

6:56

Brown Medical School Department

6:59

of Community Health . So

7:01

what these researchers

7:03

did , they actually used

7:05

data from a

7:08

huge sample

7:10

of children . They actually

7:12

used data from 62,887

7:17

children and teenagers between

7:20

the ages of 5 to 17

7:22

years . That they were part

7:24

of a big national survey

7:27

of children's health between 2003

7:29

and 2004 . So

7:32

the big advantage and

7:34

the main strength of

7:36

this particular study was that it had

7:39

a huge number

7:41

of children that they use in

7:43

their database . So this

7:45

was a survey . So , basically , the

7:47

researchers ask children

7:50

, their parents , whether their

7:52

child has ever received

7:54

a diagnosis of

7:57

ADHD and

7:59

whether , and those

8:01

that they answered yes

8:04

, they also ask them whether

8:06

the kids were using ADHD

8:09

medications . Now

8:11

they also collected data again

8:13

on their height and weight to calculate

8:16

the bonima syntax , which once again

8:18

, is a tool that researchers

8:20

used to figure out whether

8:23

a child is normal weight

8:25

, underweight or overweight

8:27

or in the obese category

8:29

. So , again , if you want to learn

8:31

more about what is bonima

8:33

syntax and how much weight does

8:35

your kid need to lose to be in a healthy weight

8:38

. Go back and listen to episode

8:40

one of this podcast where

8:42

I go more into details

8:44

on how to figure

8:47

out a normal BMI in child . So

8:49

they collected this researcher's

8:51

data on the bonima syntax . They

8:53

collected data on whether the

8:55

kids have ADHD

8:58

and , if they did , whether they were taking

9:00

medications or not . They also

9:02

, of course , collected data on

9:04

their race , on their gender

9:06

, whether they were male or female , and

9:09

they also collected data on whether

9:11

they had depression or anxiety

9:14

. One quick note about

9:16

this study is that the definition

9:18

they used to characterize

9:21

children that they were overweight

9:23

was a little different than what

9:25

is typically used . So

9:28

typically , a normal child

9:30

has a normal BMI if

9:32

it is between the fifth and the 85th

9:34

percentile , and the 85th

9:37

and the 95th percentile is what typically

9:40

we characterize as overweight

9:42

, and above the 95th percentile

9:45

is what we characterize typically as

9:47

being in the obesity category . So

9:50

, however , in this particular

9:52

research , they categorized

9:54

kids between the 85th and 95th

9:57

percentile as being at risk for

9:59

overweight and those being more

10:01

than 95th as considered

10:03

overweight . So they did not really have

10:06

a category named classically

10:09

obese category . Just

10:11

a quick note , because terminology

10:13

is important when we are talking about

10:15

scientific research . So

10:18

let's dive into what

10:21

their researchers found . So

10:23

, as I mentioned , they had more

10:26

than 60,000 of kids and

10:28

of those , of course , majority

10:30

did not have a DHT . 57,204

10:34

kids did not have a DHT , but

10:36

there were 5,680

10:39

kids that had ADHD . So

10:41

the total frequency , let's

10:43

say , of ADHD in this sample

10:46

group was approximately 9%

10:48

. So , and of those

10:50

kids that were taking

10:52

medications , there was approximately

10:55

57.2%

10:57

of the kids that had ADHD were

11:00

on medications , and majority

11:03

of them , 72%

11:05

, were male . One

11:08

thing that striked a big

11:10

difference was the percentage

11:12

of depression and anxiety between

11:14

those that had ADHD

11:17

versus those that did not have ADHD

11:19

. They found 3.1%

11:22

depression and anxiety symptoms in

11:24

those that didn't have ADHD , compared

11:26

to 28% of those that

11:28

had ADHD . And

11:32

now let's look at , when it comes

11:34

to weight , what

11:37

they found those that

11:39

56.7%

11:42

of children and adolescents

11:44

with ADHD had normal weight

11:47

. However , 6.7%

11:51

were underweight , 15.6%

11:56

were at risk of overweight , meaning

11:58

their body mass index

12:00

was between 85th and 95th

12:02

percentile , and 21%

12:05

were overweight , or

12:07

what would classify typically as

12:10

in the obese category , having a body

12:12

mass index above the 95th percentile

12:14

. And so they

12:17

did another thing they also

12:19

looked more into the kids that

12:21

had ADHD that were taking

12:24

medications versus the kids

12:26

that were not taking medications . And

12:28

what they found was that

12:30

the children that were taking medications

12:33

were at higher risk

12:35

to

12:37

be underweight , to have weight that was body

12:40

mass index less than the fifth percentile

12:42

, compared to children

12:44

and adolescents that did not

12:46

have ADHD . Now

12:50

, also , they found

12:52

that the children that had ADHD

12:54

and were not using medications

12:56

were 1.5

12:59

times more likely

13:01

to have problems with their

13:03

weight and have

13:05

a body mass index more

13:07

than a 95 , compared

13:10

with the children and adolescents that

13:12

did not have ADHD

13:14

. Again , kids

13:16

that had ADHD and

13:18

were not taking medications were

13:21

1.5 times more likely

13:24

to have an unhealthy weight compared

13:26

to the kids that did

13:29

not have ADHD . So

13:32

this is just one of the

13:35

studies that have shown this

13:37

relationship between ADHD

13:40

, not medicated and

13:43

risk for overweight . And

13:45

, as I mentioned , why does this happen

13:47

? Well , there are several theories . One

13:50

is that , as I mentioned , this impulsivity

13:53

, this behavior that characterized

13:56

unmedicated kids and

13:58

also adults that have ADHD , is

14:01

make it more difficult

14:03

also for them to control their

14:05

behavior around food

14:07

. So , in other words , they may eat

14:10

without paying

14:12

attention to what

14:14

they are eating . Also

14:17

, they may have more episodes

14:19

of binge eating

14:21

, which also has been associated to

14:24

lead to obesity . So

14:26

binge episodes are really episodes

14:28

where you lose control and you start eating again

14:30

. It's like a behavioral pattern . And

14:33

also sometimes people

14:36

that have ADHD can

14:38

also have problems with their sleep

14:40

and , as I have

14:42

mentioned before , sleep

14:45

plays a huge role in regulation

14:47

of appetite and hormones

14:49

. And you can go back

14:51

and listen to episode four

14:54

, where I talk about how sleeping more

14:56

can help teens lose weight , and

14:58

also episode 16 , how does

15:00

poor sleep affect teens' preference

15:03

for sweets and desserts ? So

15:05

, to summarize , this is

15:08

one of the studies that

15:10

was done in a big representative

15:13

sample in the US population , a

15:15

big survey that indicated

15:18

that kids that have

15:20

problems with attention deficit

15:23

hyperactivity disorder may

15:25

be at a higher risk to

15:27

have an unhealthy weight . So

15:29

I highly recommend that

15:32

if you have a

15:34

child that may have ADHD

15:36

, or you suspect that the child

15:38

may have ADHD , to discuss this further

15:40

with your pediatrician . Or

15:43

if you already

15:45

have a child that has been diagnosed with ADHD but

15:48

they have not been consistently taking

15:50

their medications and their struggle

15:53

with their weight , then this

15:55

is something to discuss with them

15:57

again and maybe that will help

15:59

improve their compliance with

16:01

their medications . I

16:03

hope this was helpful to you . If

16:05

you find it also useful

16:07

. Please share this episode with your

16:10

friends and family so we can spread

16:12

the message and more people can

16:14

benefit from it . That's

16:16

all I had for you for today and

16:18

I'll talk to you soon .

16:20

Take care If you enjoyed

16:22

listening to this podcast . I invite

16:24

you to come check out the Lift program . It's

16:26

Dr Gorgary's 12-week coaching program

16:28

for teens and their moms , where we take all

16:30

this information , we apply it to your daily

16:33

life and we work together so your

16:35

teenager learns how to create a healthy lifestyle

16:37

so they can feel happier , more confident

16:39

, less stressed and love their body

16:41

again . Visit the website at lifestyleforteanscom

16:45

and click on the work with me and free

16:47

resources to learn more about this program

16:49

and get free help to start this journey

16:51

right away . Thanks for tuning in and

16:53

we'll catch you in the next episode of Lifestyle

16:56

and Weight Loss for Teens .