Parents, Overweight Kids, Junk Food, And Education

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healthychoiceFrom Your Health Journal…..”A very interesting article written by Norman Byrd in Huliq which discusses how a study has concluded that the parents with a better education tend to have children who eat healthier food. A multi-nation study of over 14,000 children between the ages of 2 and 9 found a link between the level of education of the parents of the children and the level of foods likely to be deemed unhealthy and lead to obesity. Succinctly, found that parents with better educations were more likely to have children who ate more fruits and vegetables and less foods containing sugar and fats, prime contributors to obesity. Data from the study suggests that the lower the parental education level, the more likely they were to feed their children (or allow them to eat) food rich in sugars and fats. Parents with higher levels of education were more likely to introduce their children to vegetables, fruit, pasta, rice and wholemeal bread — foods of a greater nutritional value. As I have been saying for years, it is important that we help ALL parents be educated on good nutrition and the importance of physical activity, in an effort to reduce obesity among children. Obesity is on the rise, along with obesity related illnesses! Change is needed, and education is a powerful tool in the fight to reduce unhealthy lifestyle. Please take the time to visit the Huliq web site (link provided below) to read the complete article. I have included a short ‘snip’ below, but wanted to promote their site and the great work by Norman Byrd presenting this valuable information.”

From the article…..

An eight-nation study of over 14,000 children between the ages of two and nine found a link between the level of education of the parents of the children and the level of foods likely to be deemed unhealthy and lead to obesity. Succinctly, the study, according to Science Daily, found that parents with better educations were more likely to have children who ate more fruits and vegetables and less foods containing sugar and fats, prime contributors to obesity.

The Identification and prevention of dietary- and lifestyle-induced health effects in children and infants (IDEFICS) study took place in eight European countries — Italy, Estonia, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Germany and Spain and published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.

Data from the study indicated that the lower the parental education level, the more likely they were to feed their children (or allow them to eat) food rich in sugars and fats. Parents with higher levels of education were more likely to introduce their children to vegetables, fruit, pasta, rice and wholemeal bread — foods of a greater nutritional value.

Juan Miguel Fernández Alvira, the author of the work and a researcher from the University of Zaragoza in Spain, wrote: “The greatest differences among families with different levels of education are observed in the consumption of fruit, vegetables and sweet drinks.”

Fernández Alvira and his colleagues concluded that there was a greater risk of obesity in children and young adults in households where the parents were less educated. The group suggested programs targeted at areas of populations more socio-economically deficient (often the case with populations exhibiting lower education levels).

The study is also comparable to findings in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control’s annual study on obesity in America that ranks the most obese states found the American South predominated the list in 2012, with the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama numbers 1, 2, and 4 (with West Virginia third, a state considered a “border southern state”). States with the least number of bachelor’s degrees (as a percentage of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau) constituted eight of those top ten states (with West Virginia and Mississippi first and second, respectively). And in a four-criteria survey (from The Street) that included high school graduation rate and average SAT scores, Mississippi and Louisiana made the list once more (fifth and fourth, although it should be noted that all five states were southern, with Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina rounding out the list in descending order).

To read the complete article…..Click here