Fighting Childhood Obesity, Moms To The Rescue

WEDNESDAY, July 4, 2018 (HealthDay News) – Moms can play a big role in fighting the epidemic of childhood obesity, say the researchers.

The key: Kids are less likely to be obese if their mothers follow habits, according to the Harvard report.

The five habits are: eat a healthy diet; exercise regularly; maintain a healthy body weight; no smoking; and drink alcohol in moderation.

For the study, researchers badyzed data on more than 24,000 children, aged 9 to 18, who were born to nearly 17,000 women. During a median follow-up period of five years, just over 5% of children became obese.

Children whose mothers followed the five habits were 75% less likely to become obese than mothers' children's habits, investigators found.

Some of these healthy habits have had a significant impact on their own. For example, children of women who maintained a healthy weight had a 56% lower risk of obesity than women who did not maintain a healthy weight. And children of mothers who did not smoke had a risk of obesity 31% lower than that of mothers of smokers.

"Our study was the first to demonstrate that a healthy lifestyle prevailed over all factors of healthy lifestyles of mothers. when it is about reducing the risk of obesity in their children, "said lead author Qi Sun study. He is an badociate professor at Harvard TH Department of School Nutrition Chan

One in five US children aged 6 to 19 is obese, increasing the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems later in life. Genetics plays a role in obesity, the sharp rise in US childhood obesity in recent years is probably due to poor health habits, suggest the authors of the study

. His children's health and the need for family-oriented or parent-driven approaches to reduce childhood obesity

The report was published online July 4 in the BMJ .

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The American He Association art has more on the prevention of childhood obesity.