Targeting Parents Leads to Children’s Weight Loss

03 Feb 2011

Children's health,Parents help kids weightloss

About the Author

The author of The Nutrition Post.

Common sense would dictate that parents are the first line of defence when it comes to preventing obesity in children.

Now there's a study to back up what most people suspect - approaches that specifically target parents can result in significant weight loss in moderately obese prepubertal children.

Study Particulars
■Randomized controlled trial of 169 moderately obese children, who were 5 to 9 years of age.
■Parents were targeted as the agents of change, and were randomly assigned to take a six-month health lifestyle course alone, or in combination with a parenting training course.
■The children's body mass index (BMI) and waist z scores were measured at the end of the parenting training, and then at six-month intervals during a two-year follow-up period.
■The researchers also studied the impact of the training course on parenting outcomes, measured by questionnaires assessing factors such as parental feelings of satisfaction and efficacy in their role.

10 Comments

cheluzal January 27, 2011 at 10:13 pm Log in to Reply

I walked a college campus yesterday, thinking like a European, and even I had to conclude that us Americans are fat and lazy and inconsiderate.
Suzanne L January 26, 2011 at 4:25 pm Log in to Reply

Duh, fat parents raise fat children. We are becoming a society of porkers.
Bill January 26, 2011 at 12:38 pm Log in to Reply

maybe we need a government study to see if kids eating too much causes them to be fat.... a few trillion ought to be enough...duh...
SteveN January 26, 2011 at 8:56 am Log in to Reply

The fact that a study was needed to come to this conclution speaks volumes for western culture.
meisterjohn January 26, 2011 at 7:31 am Log in to Reply

If parents and children want to lose weight effectively, it can be done. Limit the screen time from all sources (TV, computer, video games, smart phones, blackberrys, etc) to 2 hours total for children under the age of 5 and to 8 hours total to anyone else in the household. Minimize the use of the car by walking or taking public transit. Get the children to play outside with neighborhood friends (with supervision). Prepare healthy home-cooked meals, from scratch if possible. The biggest contributor to obesity is lifestyle. Stop going from one chair to another (breakfast-car-office chair-lunch-office chair-supper-sofa or computer chair) and from one screen to another. Do not use any screen as a babysitter for your children and spend more time with them instead of being online or tweeting . Be a parent for a change!
KSM January 26, 2011 at 4:20 am Log in to Reply

Spawning should be a licensed privilege, not a right.
MW35215 January 26, 2011 at 12:40 am Log in to Reply

How about we tell welfare families how the food stamps can be spent like the WIC program does? I have seen ginormous families pile grocery cart after grocery cart with stuff like Cheetos and Coke and Hot pockets and Pizza Bagels instead of buying healthy foods like low sugar cereal and fruits and veggies. If you got food stamps in the beginning of the program you could get commodity cheese and wheat bread and NO processed junk. Since food stamps can buy ANYTHING except hot foods - and hot foods like rotisserie chickens are very healthy - the average welfare family has ballooned to the point that 6 year olds have hypertension. If the parents eat junk all the time, the kids will eat junk all the time. And don't get me started on the 'average" school lunch.
wayne January 25, 2011 at 10:40 pm Log in to Reply

Tax the parents enough and the kids will lose weight.
Spanked January 25, 2011 at 10:15 pm Log in to Reply

Smoking help control the cravings for food but I guess starving them works too.
Pedro January 25, 2011 at 8:50 pm Log in to Reply

I believe that todays parents not all of them think since they work 8 to 12 hours a day do not spend enough time with there children for healthy activities. Make time a least 1/2 hr playing outside if weather permits or have a competion in doors who can run longer or do situps. Be the example to your children you will see improvement in there health as well as your own and also you will get the benifit in strenghting your relationship with your children.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.