Currently, an estimated 25% of American children are obese, and the prevention of childhood obesity has become a vital public health priority because obese children are much more likely to become obese adults. Although factors such as the sex, ethnicity or socioeconomic status of the child have been thought to affect a childs weight, a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that a mothers child-feeding practices outweigh all other influences on her childs total fat mass.

Spruijt-Metz et al. evaluated 74 white and 46 African American boys and girls averaging 11 years old by obtaining height and weight measurements and determining their total fat mass using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Each mother participated in a brief, in-person interview asking about her child-feeding attitudes and her perceptions of her childs overweight. Control variables that could influence the childrens weightsuch as socioeconomic status, energy intake, and body compositionwere also ascertained. A mothers degree of concern for whether her child is or will become overweight was correlated with a higher fat mass in the child. Conversely, pressure to eatas when a mother encourages her child to eat everything on your platewas correlated with a lower fat mass in the child. Overall, maternal feeding practices more strongly predicted a childs adiposity than the childs energy and fat intake. The effect of a childs sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on weight was insignificant in comparison to that of maternal feeding practices. The authors conclude that highly controlling feeding strategies may interfere with childrens ability to self-regulate their food intake. Because a mothers child-feeding practices are the most important variable in determining whether a child will become overweight, future childhood obesity preventative efforts should focus on the feeding behaviors of the parents.

Spruijt-Metz, Donna et al. Relation between mothers child-f
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Contact: Elizabeth Horowitz
horowitz@ascn.faseb.org
301-530-7038
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
22-Feb-2002

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