It’s all on mom: Her habits influence children

By

News

July 6, 2018 - 11:00 PM

A study that tracked nearly 17,000 female nurses and their children found that women who practiced five healthy habits, including exercising regularly, had adolescents that were far less likely to be very overweight. (Dreamstime)

Mothers lead the way for their children. And new research finds that the paths that moms walk (or the couches they sit and smoke on) make a powerful difference in their children’s propensity to become obese.

A study that tracked close to 17,000 female nurses and their 24,289 kids has found that women who practiced five healthy habits — maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, eating a nutritious diet, consuming no more than moderate quantities of alcohol and not smoking cigarettes — had adolescents that were 75 percent less likely to be very overweight than the children of moms who practiced none of those healthy habits.

When kids followed their moms along that optimally healthy path, they were 82 percent less likely to be obese in adolescence than were the children who followed their mothers down a path including none of the healthy behaviors, the study found.

Related
May 4, 2021
April 23, 2015
May 5, 2014
March 22, 2013