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Pop quiz time. If your child is overweight, is it better to tell him/her:

I’m concerned about your weight

Or

I think we should eat more kale salads for dinner.

A new study, published Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, says the answer is B.

Conducted by University of Minnesota, Minneapolis researchers, the study suggests that when parental conversations focused only on “healthful eating behaviors” the adolescents in the study were much less likely to diet (here considered detrimental) or engage in unhealthy weight-control behaviors (UWCBs).

“Because adolescence is a time when more youths engage in disordered eating behaviors, it is important for parents to understand what types of conversations may be helpful or harmful in regard to disordered eating behaviors and how to have these conversations with their adolescents,” Jerica M. Berge, Ph.D., M.P.H., L.M.F.T., of the University of Minnesota Medical School, and colleagues write in the study background.

The study used data from two linked population-based studies and surveys with teens and their parents. The final group included 2,348 kids (average age, 14.4 years) and 3,528 parents.

Among the overweight teens whose moms talked to them about healthful eating there was a lower prevalence of dieting and (40.1 percent vs. 53.4 percent, respectively) and UWCBs (40.6 percent vs. 53.2 percent, respectively) compared to those whose moms did not talk about healthful eating, according to the study.

When both parents had a weight conversation with their child, children dieted 37.1 percent of the time. But when the parents engaged only in conversations about healthful eating, their children dieted only 21.2 percent of the time. Additionally, the study found that when dads commented on their teens’ weight their children were more likely to engage in UWCBs and diets than when moms commented.

“Finally, for parents who may wonder whether talking with their adolescent child about eating habits and weight is useful or detrimental, results from this study indicate that they may want to focus on discussing and promoting healthful eating behaviors rather than discussing weight and size, regardless of whether their child is non-overweight or overweight,” the authors said in a statement.

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