A report in the May issue of Pediatrics (107: pp. 1138-1146) has revealed that low-income mothers are less likely than their more financially secure counterparts to recognise standard growth ranges for their children. Instead, they are likely to perceive their child’s weight according to the limitations it places on physical activity, or the amount the child gets teased at school.
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Childhood obesity is increasing steadily in the USA as in a number of other Western countries, and the study, conducted by Dr Anjali Jain and colleagues from the University of Chicago, considered the attitudes towards obesity of 18 low-income mothers whose pre-school children were deemed to be at risk from obesity in later life.
The researchers discovered that mothers considered even obese children to be healthy as long as they were reasonably active and blamed their weight gain on hereditary factors rather than over eating. Several of the mothers found it difficult to refuse food to children.
just-food.com recently covered another study on childhood obesity. To read about it, click here.
