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A recent study suggests that parents tend to adopt diet styles in response to their children's natural body weight, which is largely influenced by genetics.
The research challenges the idea that a child's weight largely reflects the way his parents feed him. While childhood obesity is reaching critical levels, researchers are looking for environmental factors that could explain why more children develop overweight.
The way a parent feeds his child is considered a powerful modifier of his child's eating behavior: it is thought that a strict restriction leads to weight gain because children eat excessively when the restriction is not more in force ("forbidden fruit" effect); It is thought that putting pressure on a child for it to finish all there is on the plate causes anxiety in children with low appetite and compromises weight gain.
Published in PLOS Genetics, the researchers examined the relationship between a child's genetic predisposition to a higher or lower weight and the feeding practices of his parents.
It is well established that body weight is based on a strong genetic basis, with genetic factors accounting for up to 80% of differences between individuals.
Lead author Saskia Selzam said "found that parents whose children were genetically predisposed to having a lower weight made them more likely to eat them, and that parents whose children were genetically predisposed to a lower weight were more restrictive they were allowed to eat. "
According to the researchers, the results suggest that parents develop their feeding practices in response to their child's natural tendency to higher or lower weight. The way a parent feeds his child may also have some influence on his child's weight, but our results challenge the prevailing view that parent behavior is the most important factor affecting weight. of the child.
The study included data on approximately 4,500 twin pairs born in England and Wales between 1994 and 1996. Comparing pairs of twins, the researchers found that many of the genes that influence individual differences in Children's weights also influence parents' eating behavior, so high-weight genes are linked to restrictive dietary practices, while lower-weight genes are linked to dietary stress. practices.
Even in families where the genetic predispositions of non-identical twins differed, parents were more restrictive with the twin who tended to be overweight and put more pressure on the twin who tended to be underweight.
"These results show that parents are not the" complete story "regarding the weight of the child, and blaming parents for controlling too much food can be unfair. It is not clear whether these natural "go to" strategies are helpful, harmful, or inconsequential to a child's weight in the long run, "said Dr. Clare Llewellyn, lead author of the study.
(This story has not been changed by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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