Mother’s Healthy Lifestyle Habits Can Reduce Childhood Obesity Risk

Highlights:

Mothers who follow five healthy lifestyle habits may reduce the risk of obesity in children
Healthy practices such as eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining healthy body weight, consuming alcohol in moderation and not smoking can lower childhood obesity risk

Mothers who follow five healthy lifestyle practices may reduce the risk of obesity in children, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in BMJ.//

Five Healthy Habits for Mothers

Eating a healthy diet
Exercising regularly
Maintaining a healthy body weight
Drinking alcohol in moderation and
Quit smoking

Children and adolescents whose mothers follow these five healthy habits are 75 percent less likely to become obese compared with children of mothers who did not follow any such lifestyle practices.

Childhood Obesity - Criteria - Causes - Complications, Treatment
Childhood obesity is one of the most serious health challenges in the developing countries and needs to be understood and tackled effectively.

‘Mothers who follow five healthy lifestyle habits may reduce the risk of childhood obesity. Healthy practices such as eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining healthy body weight, drinking moderate levels of alcohol and not smoking can lower the risk of obesity in children.’

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"Our study was the first to demonstrate that an overall healthy lifestyle really outweighs any individual healthy lifestyle factors followed by mothers when it comes to lowering the risk of obesity in their children," said Qi Sun, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and senior author of the study.

One in five children (aged 6-19 ) in the U.S is found to have obesity, placing them at higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other metabolic conditions later in life.

It is known that genetics play a role in the development of obesity. The rapid increase of the disease in recent years is likely due to changes in lifestyle and diet, pointing that ‘nurture’ more than ‘nature’ is fueling the current obesity epidemic.

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Details of the Study

For this study, the research team mainly focused on the association between a mother's lifestyle and the risk of obesity among their children and adolescents between 9 and 18 years of age. They analyzed data from 24,289 children registered in the Growing Up Today Study who were born to 16,945 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II.

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Findings of the Study

During a median five-year follow-up period, the research team found that 1,282 of the children (5.3%) developed obesity. Maternal obesity, physical inactivity, and smoking were strongly associated with obesity among children and adolescents.

Common Lifestyle Habits that Cause Diseases
Cigarette smoking, unhealthy diets, overuse of alcohol, and physical inactivity are some of the most common lifestyle habits that cause chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The greatest drop in obesity risk was observed when mothers and children followed healthy lifestyle habits. When assessed individually, many of the healthy habits had a remarkable impact on the risk of childhood obesity.

Children of mothers who

maintained a healthy body weight (body mass index 18.5-24.9) had a 56 percent lower risk of obesity compared with children of mothers who did not maintain a healthy weight
did not smoke had a 31 percent lower risk of obesity compared with children of women who smoked
consumed low or moderate levels of alcohol also had a lower risk of obesity compared with children of mothers who declined from alcohol

Few mothers in the Nurses' Health Study II were considered to be heavy drinkers, and the research team could not determine the association between heavy use of alcohol had the risk of obesity in children.

The research team were surprised to discover that mothers' dietary patterns were not linked to obesity in their children, maybe the children's diets are influenced by many factors such as school lunches and available food choices in their neighborhoods.

The findings of this study mainly highlight the vital role a mother's lifestyle choices can influence their child's health and offer support for a family or parent-based intervention strategies for reducing childhood obesity risk.

Source-Medindia