Community programs may help dads lose weight

By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Men who participated in a community fitness program for obese fathers lost weight and increased their activity levels in a new study from Australia. The researchers’ main goal was to test the ‘Healthy Dads, Healthy Kids’ program in a real-world setting to see if it helped reduce obesity among the men participating – with the hope it would improve the eating habits and activity levels of their children too. “Internationally, obesity in men and obesity prevention in children are public health priorities,” Philip Morgan, who led the study, told Reuters Health in an email. “Fathers have a unique and important role in the lifestyle behaviours of their children, yet little is known about how best to engage them in lifestyle interventions,” Morgan said.