Do Kids' Diets Work?

By David Bjerklie

A three-year study of nearly 17,000 kids ages 9 to 14 found that 30% of girls in the U.S. and 16% of boys were on diets. Good news in this age of obesity? Not necessarily. Kids who were frequent dieters gained as much as 2.5 lbs. more each year than their peers who did not diet. The likely reason? Overly restrictive diets that led to cycles of binge eating. --D.B.