Christine Webb, Your Health and Fitness
The latest research found children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are at a 50 percent higher risk for being overweight if they are not taking medication for the condition.
On the flip side, scientists found children who were taking ADHD medicine had a raised risk of being underweight.
The research showed those children with ADHD who were on medication had a 1.6 times greater risk of being underweight.
By knowing this, the hope is doctors and nurses can be better prepared to prevent the development of childhood obesity.
The report was published in the July 2008 issue of Pediatrics.
However, some experts do not find the ADHD-weight connection all that convincing.
Some felt because childhood obesity and ADHD are both widespread, it is to be expected that some ADHD children will be obese.
The data came from the 2003-2004 U.S. National Survey of Children's Health.
Researchers found that children with ADHD who were not taking medication for the condition had a 1.5 times higher risk of being overweight, compared with children, who did not have ADHD.
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