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New Study: Obesity linked to same-sex parent
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by Ostia | July 12, 2009 at 08:21 pm
567 views | 48 Recommendations | 3 comments
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According to a study on 226 families by Plymouth's Peninsula Medical School, obesity of children is often linked to same-sex parent. Daughters were said to be 10 times more likely to be obese in case of obese mothers, sons 6 times more likely to be obese in case of obese fathers. Children of the opposite sex were generally not affected.
They found that 41% of the eight-year-old daughters of obese mothers were obese, compared to 4% of girls with normal-weight mothers. There was no difference in the proportion for boys. For boys, 18% of the group with obese fathers were also obese, compared to just 3% for those with normal-weight fathers. Again, there was no difference in the proportion for girls.
Further, it was stressed that the link cannot be found in genetics but rather in some form of "behavioural sympathy" since children tend to copy the lifestyles of the same-sex parent.
This finding can have a significant impact on how to target child obesity. The focus would have to shift away from the child towards the parent.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: "This is telling the government that they now have to look for a new direction. We have to make sure parents are in a good condition to bring up their children in a normal manner."
Additionally the study also rejects the notion that obese children will become obese adults. Eight out of ten obese adults were shown to have not been severely overweight as children.
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Ostia
Yokohama, Japan
Recommendations (48)
Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke
Redwater, Alberta, Canada
Amy Judd
Vancouver, Canada
Uwe Paschen
Narita, Chiba, Japan
Samir Joshi
Vadodara, Gujarat, India
Rhonda J Mangus
North Tonawanda, New York, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 20:40 on July 12th, 2009
Interesting Study, I am certain though that they will be a follow up study on this one.
at 23:39 on July 12th, 2009
So I agree with Ostia's article - the focus does need to be on the parents.
Our children do watch us parents very closely and follow in our footsteps.
Children will naturally follow our examples, whether good or bad, healthy or unhealthy.
What we do has a greater impact than what we say. Parents need not only to set the example, but also actively train their children in the way they should go.
Parent's often forfeit most of the child-raising responsibility to schools when both parents work. The main time these working parents see their children is at meal times and that will obviously have a great impact on them.
Can I suggest that busy moms who are full time in the workplace have less time at home to prepare healthy meals, and may resort to more preprocessed, fatty and/or fast food in their diets, which also adds to the obesity problem.
The notion of super-moms having a career and successfully raising a family is starting to become less of an achievable reality than it was made out to be by the feminist movement. It just can't be done successfully. Either the career or the family tends to suffer.
There may be exceptions of course, but it is not the rule.
Perhaps it is time we parents reevaluate our lifestyle goals and set more achievable financial goals so as not to create financial burdens too great for a father to provide on a single income.
We need to ask ourselves - do we really need that big home and three cars - now? Can we settle for a smaller home first and then extend that home later or upgrade to a larger home?
If a father is able to provide for their family financially then the mom is able to stop at home, be a home-maker and raise their kids. Maybe even homeschool their children for an even better, more complete education, without the pressures from their peers to indulge in unwanted activities.
After all - it's the parent's God-given responsibility to raise their kids - not the government, not the schools!
And statistics prove that families are indeed better off having Dad at work and Mom at home with the kids. Marriages are more stable, the kids are less likely to get addicted to drugs or alcohol and get better school grades, and much less likely to suicide.
Of course it's another issue altogether for single-parent families who have a far greater challenge ahead of them. They need all the help they can get!
at 04:51 on July 13th, 2009
Definitively some good points in there! Especially the three cars and huge house one, thinking also about the environmental consequences. I don't think though that it's all about the mother staying home and having time to prepare healthy meals. A lot of healthy food can be prepared in short periods of time. I think what is really needed is a change in mind about food in general if we have much or little time, we have to start using our brains again...