New research from the UK is suggesting that not only do children learn from their parents, they tend to learn from their parents of the same sex, at least when it comes to the issue of obesity. After studying 226 families, researchers found that daughters of obese mothers were 10 times more likely to be obese, compared to daughters of normal-weight mothers. Sons were 6 times more likely to be obese if they have an obese father. Researchers attribute this finding to a phenomenon called “behavioral sympathy” where children will adopt the lifestyles of their same-sex parent. The obesity epidemic has innumerable causes, but the fight against it has to involve educating both parents and children. Healthy eating and living are learned behaviors, not a consequence of genetics.
Read more and share your comments here.
Tags: childhood obesity, diet, epidemic, exercise, obesity
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I think the main problem is that in the U.S. kids are no longer required to have Physical Ed. all the way through grammer school now. I think they need to have SOME kind of physical activity from Kindergarten to 12th grade. All the emphasis has been put on learning, which is VERY important, but all our kids are overweight and on their way to obesity.Add at least 30 minutes to the school day to MAKE time for these kids to do something for exercise!!
July 14th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Sadly, when budget cuts happen it’s the arts and physical education that get hit first it seems.