Facebook vs. obesity?

Prevention programs based in social media like Facebook could be an effective tool in curbing childhood obesity, a report finds.

An overview of how social media affects health and obesity released by the American Heart Association found that social media offers “natural points for intervention” for helping children and teenagers fight obesity, recommending the development of social-networking programs to encourage self-monitoring, goal-setting and problem-solving, according to Forbes and Medical News Today.

The overview also identified three factors contributing to the success of Web-based intervention strategies—family involvement with the effort, the amount of interaction between the children and their counselor or support group, and how often the children used the online programs.

The report noted that people tend to interact with people similar to themselves, even online, and that an individual’s healthful lifestyle change could create a ripple effect throughout a social-media network.