Child Obesity Not Prevented By Parent Diet Choice
Knowledge – Ajit Patel Sanda Wellbeing
"A study
of the families of 150 preschoolers
suggests that parents of healthy-weight
and overweight preschoolers are
generally well aware of dietary risk factors
that fuel childhood obesity.
The research, conducted by the Johns Hopkins Children's
Center and All Children's Hospital in Florida,
suggests that awareness alone is not enough to effect meaningful weight
change, and that pediatricians
should help parents with specific and tailored
guidance on how to apply their knowledge
in daily practice, the researchers said.
The study, published
ahead of print in the journal Clinical Pediatrics,
also illuminates the gap between what parents
know about the root causes of obesity
and what they can actually do to maintain healthy
diets for preschoolers, a group generally overlooked in obesity
research and prevention.
"When it comes to obesity
prevention, the focus tends to be on school-age children and teens, but
a growing body of
research has found a link between poor life-long health and being overweight as early as 2
years of age," said lead investigator Raquel
Hernandez, M.D. M.P.H., a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention define children with a body-mass
index at or above the 85th percentile for their age
as overweight. One-third of the 150 children
in the current study were overweight,
most from low-income urban homes, and more than 90 percent African-American.
"Childhood
obesity is a complex, multi-factorial phenomenon
but our findings reveal that, for the most part, lack of parental awareness
of nutritional risk factors
is not one of the drivers behind it," Hernandez said.
The investigators
set out to identify parental perceptions of risk factors for childhood
obesity and barriers to healthy
weight and to determine whether the parents of healthy-weight
preschoolers viewed such risks
and barriers differently from the parents of overweight
children. They didn't. The study found minimal to non-existent differences
between the two groups. One important risk
factor remained seriously overlooked by parents
in both groups: physical activity. Only 7 percent of parents in the healthy-weight
group and 8 percent in the overweight
group cited lack of physical activity as a top driver of unhealthy weight.
Recent studies have shown that few preschoolers
achieve healthy levels of activity, and most remain sedentary 85 percent of the
time, the investigators
say. The results of the study suggest that parents undervalue physical
activity in an age group often perceived as "active enough," and
alerting parents
to the risks of inactivity is critical in obesity prevention, according to
Janet Serwint, M.D., of Johns Hopkins Children's
Center.
"The importance of physical
activity and age-appropriate exercise is one area where we could step up educational
efforts," Serwint said. "Pediatricians should discuss specific and
age-appropriate activity
goals during well-child visits."
Nearly 40 percent of parents
in both groups identified buying and preparing unhealthy
food as the top contributor to weight
problems at an early age. Similar numbers of parents
in both groups (23 percent and 31 percent) cited using food as a reward for good behavior as a risk
factor for weight
problems. A nearly equal proportion of parents in both groups (25 percent and
23 percent) said that asking the child to finish food
on the plate was the most critical contributor to overweight
or obesity.
Importantly, one-third of parents
from both groups (35 percent and 33 percent) identified lack of control over
the child's food
choices as the top barrier to healthy weight
– a notable finding, the researchers say, given that most preschool children
spend most of their waking hours in daycare
or with alternate caregivers.
"Daycare providers, grandparents
and others involved in a child's care are often just as important in achieving healthy-weight
goals as the parents themselves, and parents should be
encouraged to provide specific dietary and activity instructions to
these influential caregivers," Hernandez said."
-
Ajit Patel UK, Sanda Wellbeing and Sanda Wellness
Group, Goldshield
Group, WeMet
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