Parents of young children eat more fatty foods and lead unhealthier lives, study claims



You'd be forgiven for thinking that chasing around after young children each day would leave parents in the best shape of their lives.

But a study has found that the mothers and fathers of toddlers are more unhealthy than their childless peers.

Mothers with young children are heavier and eat more calories and fatty foods, and consume more sugary drinks than childless women, scientists said.

And both sexes are less active than those in their age group without children.

Less active: The parents of young children are more unhealthy than their childless peers, according to a study

Parents often opt for quick, easily prepared foods that are high in fat and calories, and by choosing these foods they may in turn serve them to their children, perpetuating a cycle of unhealthy eating, the study authors said.



Co-author Dr Jerica Berge, a University of Minnesota researcher, said: 'This isn't a study about blame, this is about identifying a very high-risk time period' for parents that doctors should be aware of so they can offer solutions.



That may include diet advice, parent-child exercise classes, or just getting parents to take walks with their kids, the researchers said.

The study involved 1,520 adults with an average age of 25, including parents with children younger than five years old.

They were among more than 4,000 Minneapolis-area students who were enrolled in a study in their teens - the new study includes those who responded to two follow-up health surveys and answered questions about their diet and activity.



The results are published in the online journal Pediatrics.



Mothers ate more fatty foods and drank about seven sugary drinks weekly, versus about four among childless women.



They also had an average of 2,360 calories daily, 368 calories more than women without children.



With that many calories, women that age would need to be active to avoid gaining weight, walking more than three miles daily at a moderate pace.



But mothers got on average a little more than two hours of at least moderate activity weekly, versus three hours weekly among childless women.

Mothers had a slightly higher average body-mass index than childless women - 27 versus 26. Healthy BMIs are in the 19-24 range.



Fathers ate about the same amount of daily calories as childless men and both had an average BMI of about 25, but fathers got less physical activity - about five hours weekly, compared to almost seven hours among childless men.



Among study participants, more of the parents were black and had low incomes than the childless adults, but the researchers took race, income and other factors into account that might have affected diet or activity levels.



The study has several limitations - there's no data on how many women recently had babies, whose weight would still reflect pregnancy pounds. There's also no information on the number of single parents, who likely face even more diet and exercise challenges than married parents.



Sarah Krieger, an American Dietetic Association spokeswoman and dietician who works with new mothers, said some of the mothers may have had postpartum depression, which might affect their eating and exercise habits.