Washington: A new study revealed that despite the fact that parents of obese children are generally aware of the diets which make children fat, it is not useful.
According to the study, conducted by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre and All Children’s Hospital in Florida n 150 families of preschoolers, paediatricians should help parents with specific and tailored guidance on how to apply their knowledge in daily practice.
“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,” a lead investigator of the study, said.
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.
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.
“The importance of physical activity and age-appropriate exercise is one area where we could step up educational efforts,” Janet Serwint, MD of Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre, said.
“Paediatricians should discuss specific and age-appropriate activity goals during well-child visits,” she said.
Nearly 40 percent of parents in both groups identified using unhealthy food as the top contributor to weight issues in childhood.
Similar numbers of parents in both groups (23 percent and 31 percent) cited using food as a reward for good behaviour 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.
“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 added.
The study has been published online in the journal Clinical Paediatrics.
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