Australian Study: Fathers Partly To Blame For Childhood Obesity

If a child doesn’t have a strong father figure in his/her life he/she is liklier to become fat, a new study says:

Fathers who play less of a role in child rearing are more likely to have overweight or obese offspring, Australian researchers said.

A study of almost 5,000 youngsters revealed that fathers who do not set clear limits for their kids are more likely to have heavier children, according to the Australian Associated Press.

Dads who did lay down boundaries generally had children with a lower body mass index, said the study by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.

The study found that a mother’s parenting style had little impact on whether a child was overweight or obese.

That’s news to many generations of adults who call tell of childhoods with all kinds of ideal-weight-challenged foods being pushed on them by adoring (or perhaps sadistic) mothers and grandmothers. AND:

“Mothers are often blamed for their children’s obesity, but this study suggests that for more effective prevention perhaps we should focus on the whole family,” Wake told the AAP.

The study found that 40 percent of mothers and more than 60 percent of fathers polled were themselves overweight.

The Reuters story notes that childhood obesity is a growing problem in Australia (as it is in the U.S. and elsewhere).