Researchers at the University of Michigan went through 6,600 "food diaries" kept by adults over a 24-hour period. They found that adults living with children under age 17 years ate almost five more grams of fat per day than adults without children in their households. Unfortunately, about half the extra fat was the saturated kind that leads to heart disease.
The author of the study, Dr. Helena Laroche said that "these dietary choices may be due to time pressures, advertising at children that includes adults, or adults perception that children will eat only hot dogs or macaroni and cheese... Once these foods are in the house, even if bought for children, adults appear more likely to eat them."
The new study was one of the first to show that children influence adult food choices as well as the other way around. This study appears in the January/February 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
Posted By: Aspen Education Group
