Children who Overeat more Likely to Experiment with Drugs

The eating patterns of a child or teen can predict whether he/she will start using marijuana or any other drug, researchers reveal.

The study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found that children who cannot control their food intake and eat too much are more likely to experiment with drugs.

For the study, lead author Kendrin Sonneville from Boston Children's Hospital and colleagues examined more than 16,000 children and teens. They found children with the habit of overeating or binge eating at a higher risk of drug use than others.

Apart from that, youth who indulged in binge eating were also found more likely to put on unnecessary weight and become depressed.

Binge eating is an eating disorder where a person consumes very large quantities of food within a short period.

"Physicians and parents should be aware that both overeating and binge eating are quite common in adolescents, and these problems put them at risk for other problems, such as drug use," Sonneville told Reuters Health. "The earlier we can screen for who is at risk, the more able we are to prevent the onset of drug use."

Researchers based their study on 16,882 children and teens aged between nine and 15.  During the study period, i.e., 1996 and 2005, all participants provided details about their eating habits and health.

A significant number of the participants reported using marijuana (41 percent) and other drugs (32 percent). Researchers found children with both overeating habits (2.7 times) and binge eating (1.9 times) at a higher risk of using drugs.

Concerned with the findings, researchers urge parents to monitor their children's eating patterns and seek medical help to avoid the consequences.

"It may be easy to overlook eating problems in normal-weight or healthy-weight kids," she told Reuters. "We need to think about eating habits even before they maybe affect a kid's weight, but realize these may be a risk factor for other problems down the road."