It is a known fact that besides certain chemical reactions of the body, weight problems can be solved by a strong will, in other words with the power of the mind. The researchers at Duke University recently conducted an experiment which showed that overweight girls could manage their problem better by reading a certain book with an embedded message about good health. The book is called Lake Rescue and it’s about an overweight girl who makes friends and manages to see herself from a better perspective by going to an outdoor trip she originally was scared of. Scientists say that the story influenced the girls in making healthier decisions regarding their food, ultimately managing to keep their problems under control.

Unfortunately, the results were not as dramatic as scientists hoped. The girls didn’t become thin overnight by the help of some miraculous book. The booked helped is the conclusion of the researchers. The experiment was conducted in the following way: a group of overweight girls had to read Lake Rescue, another group a book with no embedded message and a third and final group had nothing to read. In time, the girls in the first group showed signs that they were capable of maintaining a certain weight and some of them actually lost a couple of pounds.

The book is believed to have had something to do with these results. Researchers believe that the book acts on a psychological level, the girls identify with the characters in the story and so this gives them the mental power and will to try harder in overcoming their problems. Of course, further investigations and research are needed in order to properly show if reading can actually become a reliable weapon against obesity and overweight problems. This would be much needed as studies show that 16% of children aged between 6 and 19 are either obese or overweight.