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Childhood obesity: Your children are what YOU eat

07/13/2009 22:02:00 admin

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By Sheilah Downey

Global obesity has reached epidemic proportions, say the latest figures from the World Health Organization, who estimate that more than 1 billion adults and 22 million children are overweight globally.

While the WHO suggests "profound societal changes" or genes may be the cause of the disturbing trend, a study released today (July 13) states that overweight parents may be to blame for their children's obesity.

Published in the International Journal of Obesity, the study found that obese mothers were 10 times more likely to have obese daughters, and that fathers were six times more likely to have obese sons.

Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, England, noted that obesity is a learned behavior, not necessarily a genetic factor, and is also gender related.

A June 4 Health Survey report found that 60.8 percent of British adults were overweight and 24 percent of those obese, not far behind the estimated 34 percent of American adults who are obese.

Dr. Terry Wilkin, of the Peninsula Medical School, said in addition to the gender related obesity results could change traditional ways of dealing with the epidemic of obesity.

"The clearly defined gender-assortative pattern which our research has uncovered is an exciting one because it points towards behavioral factors at work in childhood obesity," said Wilkin. "These findings could turn our thinking on childhood obesity dramatically on its head."

Previous attempts to stem the flood of obesity cases, said Wilkin, have focused on preventing obesity in childhood thinking it would solve the problem in adulthood. That theory, says Wilkin, may have to be shelved.

"(The study's) evidence supports the opposite hypothesis," he said, "that children are becoming obese due to the influence of their same-sex parents and that we will need to focus on changing the behavior of the adult if we want to combat obesity in the child."

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Comments (3 posted):

gyoju on 07/14/2009 01:09:13

60.8% * 24% = 14.6% (British) << 34% (American). I don't think "it's not far behind." Anyway, I'm not clear what the research says. For the same research result, can't you conclude that obesity is due to genetics because obese parents will produce obese kids whose eating patterns and metabolisms are governed by their genes? To validate the research hypothesis, I think they should perform a controlled experiment of monitoring obese parents who change their eating behavior and how it affects obese children later.

Karen Goeller on 10/12/2009 16:08:09

Great article... Back in grammar school (1970's) we learned that children become overweight because the whole family is "eating off the same table." In other words, the children eat what the parents ate. Why is something so obvious such a difficult thing to change? Parents must feed their children plenty of healthy foods prepared in the MOST healthy way possible.

SmartLIpo on 04/14/2010 09:28:42

This is really shameful, we cannot be so careless even when we know its of no good to us and even for our kids. Obesity since childhood is not a good sign and it may also hinder in the child's physical development ans also mental development as well.We should take care of these things.