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A study published online in the Journal of Pediatrics finds that parents who forbid their children from eating certain foods in an effort to help prevent them from becoming obese may inhibit them from learning self-control, which could ultimately result in weight gain, HealthDay News reports. Aiming to identify children who were particularly susceptible to weight gain, researchers from the Center for Childhood Obesity Research at Pennsylvania State University evaluated almost 200 non-Hispanic white females and their parents at two-year intervals when the girls were ages 5 to 15. They measured mothers' reports of girls' inhibitory control levels, girls' reports of parental restriction in feeding, girls' body mass indices (BMIs) and parents' BMIs, education and income. According to the study, girls deemed to have lower inhibitory control at age 7 had higher concurrent BMIs, greater weight gain, higher BMIs at all subsequent time points and were almost twice as likely to be overweight by age 15. The study authors concluded that, although parents can help their children make healthy food choices, “parental attempts to help children with lower self-control by restricting their access to favorite snack foods can make the forbidden foods more attractive, thereby exacerbating the problem." They recommend parents help their children develop self-control by allowing them to choose between healthy options. (HealthDay News, 8/14/09; Anzman and Birch, Journal of Pediatrics, 7/13/09 [subscription required]).