Kids whose mothers follow five healthy habits -- eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy body weight, drinking alcohol in moderation, and not smoking -- are 75% less likely to become obese when compared with children of mothers who did not follow any such habits, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
And when both mother and child adhered to these habits, the risk of obesity was 82% lower compared with mother and children who did not.
The study was the first to demonstrate that an overall healthy lifestyle outweighs any individual healthy lifestyle factors followed by mothers when it comes to lowering the risk of obesity in their children.
Being obese puts children at risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other metabolic conditions later in life. While it’s known that genetics play a role in obesity, the rapid increase of the disease in recent years is likely due to changes in lifestyle and diet, indicating that "nurture" more than "nature" is fueling the current obesity epidemic.
About the study
The researchers focused on the link between a mother's lifestyle and the risk of obesity among their children and adolescents between 9 and 18 years of age. They examined data from 24,289 children enrolled in the Growing Up Today Study who were born to 16,945 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II.
The researchers found that 1,282 of the children (5.3%) developed obesity during a five-year follow-up period. Maternal obesity, smoking, and physical inactivity were strongly associated with obesity among children and adolescents.
While the greatest drop in obesity risk was seen when mothers and children followed healthy lifestyle habits, many of the healthy habits had a noticeable impact on the risk of childhood obesity when assessed individually. Children of women who maintained a healthy body weight (body mass index 18.5-24.9) had a 56% lower risk of obesity compared with children of women who did not maintain a healthy weight, while children of mothers who did not smoke had a 31% lower risk of obesity compared with children of mothers who smoked.
To the surprise of the researchers, mothers' dietary patterns were not associated with obesity in their children, possibly because children's diets are influenced by many factors, including school lunches and available food options in their neighborhoods.
The findings of this study highlight the crucial role a mother's lifestyle choices can have on their children's health and bolster support for family- or parent-based intervention strategies for reducing childhood obesity risk.
Source: BMJ, July 4, 2018.
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