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, December 17, 2010

Obese Parents More Likely to Have Obese Children

If both parents are obese, a child has 12 times the risk of being obese compared to a child of two normal weight parents, according to a new study from the United Kingdom.

  • Researchers from the University College London used data on 4432 families, who took part in an annual national health survey between 2001 and 2006.
  • Fourteen percent of children who had one obese parent were also obese.
  • The risk was slightly higher if the mother was the parent who was overweight.
  • Only 2% of the children of parents who were both normal-weight suffered from obesity, compared to 22% of children whose parents were both obese.
  • Among families in which both parents were severely obese, 35% of the children were too.

This study appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
 

Labels: parenting, genetics

Posted By: Jane St. Clair

Comments:

Chelsea on 1/17/2011
Yep, this is true. Many studies have shown similar info. Sometimes an entire family needs to intervene on itself and learn to eat healthy and deal with any reasons they are NOT doing so.