Childhood Obesity - Do you have an overweight child? We offer tips to help your child lose weight and get fit!

The My Overweight Child blog will help you keep informed about the latest research, findings, and resources available to parents of overweight or obese kids. There are many knowledgeable people working on the increasingly dire problem of childhood obesity - and we want to give parents a place where they can check in regularly to see the latest studies and tips available to help you help your child lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

We invite you to add your comments - if you have feedback for the blog, would like some specific topics covered, or you just want to share your experience as a parent dealing with childhood obesity.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Children of Obese Parents More Likely to be Overweight

Compared to parents of normal weight, obese mothers are ten times more likely to have obese daughters, and obese fathers are six times more likely to have obese sons, according to a new British study that was published in the International Journal of Obesity.

The authors of the study do not think that genetics is responsible for this phenomenon. Instead, they call it a form of "behavioral sympathy," in which children copy the lifestyles of their same-sex parents.

Researchers at Plymouths Peninsula Medical School studied 226 families and found that 41 percent of the eight-year-old daughters of obese mothers were also obese, compared to only four percent of girls with normal weight mothers.

Professor Terry Wilken said that the implications of this study are that governments should target parents' weight problems, and not focus their childhood obesity prevention efforts solely on overweight or obese children.

Labels: parenting, research, causes of childhood obesity

Posted By: Aspen/CRC