New Program Aims To Help Obese Children [AUDIO]

The rate of obesity is rising nationwide, creating an obesity epidemic, particularly among young children. A new program aims to help overweight kids lose weight.

The pilot study tracked 150 obese children for six months. The kids went to training sessions at the gym, and at home parents taught them to limit tv time and snacks. They also learned how to track their food intake, sleeping habits and physical activity.

"What we found was that this low intensity program was able to reduce the prevalence of obesity by 10 percent" said Gary Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University.

He said the program was successful in part, because they gave parents the tools to help their children at home.

"They were able to do it together with their parents, track their food intake, watch their sleeping habits, limit television time, increase exercise time."

Foster said scientists at Temple are looking for the program to become a model in neighboring states.

"If all kids across the country were exposed to a program like this, childhood obesity rates wold be significantly reduced, by as much as 10 percent and that's a pretty astounding number."