The consequences of obesity in fathers are not the same as in mothers, particularly with regard to the health of children.
- Today we are witnessing a veritable epidemic of obesity in the world.
- The transmission of obesity is stronger when the mother is overweight.
A new study reveals that the consequences of obesity in fathers are not the same as in mothers. Indeed, the repercussions on the health of their children will be different.
The researchers, soon to be published in the journal Journal for Economics and Human Biology, analyzed nearly two decades of data to find out whether overweight in children is influenced in the same way by that of their mothers and fathers. For this cohort, 14,401 families were included and analyzed between 1995 and 2009.
Only child
If both parents are obese, the numbers indicate that boys are more likely to be overweight than girls. “The transmission of obesity by both parents, by the father or by the mother, depends essentially on the sex of the child. says Professor Jofre-Bonet, director of the study. Corn “it seems that the transmission is stronger when the mother is overweight, rather than the father”, she adds.
Despite popular belief, the study found no evidence to suggest that being an only child has any statistical impact on the transmission of overweight, except when both parents are obese. In this case, the probability for a single child to be overweight increases.
“The findings of the study are important as they suggest that special attention needs to be given to families where both parents are overweight,” deduces Mireia Jofre-Bonet. She continues: “Health policy interventions should pay particular attention to school-aged girls, especially if their mothers are obese.”
Global obesity epidemic
“We find that low-income parents are more at risk of becoming overweight, as are their children. Therefore, interventions should focus more on low-income families in order to be more effective,” she also says.
Today we are witnessing a veritable epidemic of obesity in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the number of obese people to be over 650 million. France has a rate of adults with obesity of around 15.3%, a figure that has been increasing over the past ten years.
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