To curb the childhood-obesity epidemic, health experts have long
urged parents to make healthy changes to their family's lifestyle —
such as eating nutritiously, reducing TV time, exercising and getting a
good night's sleep.
Individually, these behaviors have been linked to a lower risk of
obesity in kids, but researchers at Ohio State University were
interested in learning whether their effect might be cumulative — that
is, whether families who adopted not just one but two or more of these
behaviors could reduce their children's risk of obesity even further.
Led by epidemiologist Sarah Anderson, researchers analyzed data on
8,550 4-year-olds in a national study, and found that indeed children
who practiced two healthy lifestyle behaviors were slimmer than those
who adopted only one behavior, while youngsters who implemented three
beneficial habits were the least likely to be overweight. "The more of
these routines the children had, the lower was their risk of obesity,"
Anderson says. "If children had all three routines, their risk of
obesity was 40% lower than children who had none of the routines."
The three behaviors that Anderson studied were eating dinner
regularly with the family, limiting the amount of time in front of the
TV, and getting enough sleep. The children who were least likely to be
obese ate dinner with their families six or seven times a week, slept
for at least 10.5 hours each night and watched less than two hours of
television per day.
The protective effect of these routines remained strong even after
Anderson accounted for other factors that can contribute to childhood
obesity, such as mother's obesity or low family income. The findings
suggest that adopting these routines can be a powerful way for families
to encourage healthy weight in their children, regardless of
socioeconomic background, she says.
In addition, says Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight
for Life Program at Children's Hospital Boston, the routines are
relatively easy for most families to adopt. "This is a beautifully
simple study. It makes a very important point, and one that needs to be
re-emphasized time and again. These are all behaviors that are within
the reach of us all."
The data Anderson used came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal
Study Birth Cohort, a government-sponsored study of a cross section of
children born in the U.S. in 2005. The children were enrolled in the
study at birth, and their parents answered questions about the
children's daily routines — including how much television they watched,
when they went to bed each night and when they woke up each morning —
at 9 months, 2 years and 4 years old.
Anderson focused her attention on the 4-year-olds, and found that
families who had layered on the routines tended to have the slimmest
kids. "We know that it's going to be more difficult for some families
than for others to adopt these routines," she says. "But we can feel
comfortable recommending them and encouraging parents to consider them,
because not only do they offer protection against obesity, they are
also likely to have other positive benefits in terms of children's
social, emotional and cognitive development."
Obesity experts stress that the key is to start somewhere, and these
routines are as good a place as any. "We don't have to be running
marathons every day," says Ludwig. "Even moderate improvements in these
three key behaviors can translate into a marked effect on body weight."
And when it comes to controlling weight, especially in youngsters,
every pound counts.
Source: TIME - http://tinyurl.com/ygdy8cm