|
 Parents most often pressure their teen to eat when neither they nor
the teen are overweight, while when parents and teens are both
overweight, parents most often use food restriction, the researchers
found.
Previous research has shown that when parents use restriction and
pressure-to-eat feeding practices, children and adolescents are at
higher risk for being overweight and having eating disorders, said
lead author Jerica M. Berge of the University of Minnesota Medical
School in Minneapolis, in email to Reuters Health.
She and her colleagues analyzed data from two studies involving more
than 3,000 parents and more than 2,000 teens. Teens had their height
and weight measured by trained professionals at school, and parents
filled out a questionnaire at home, self reporting their own heights
and weights.
Parents also reported how often they encouraged their child to eat
more at mealtimes and how often they restricted sweets, high-fat
foods or their teen’s favorite foods.
In about 1,200 cases, parents were overweight or obese but their
teen was not. In almost 900 cases, both parent and child were
overweight. In almost 700 cases, the parent and child were both not
overweight, and in only about 300 cases the parent was not
overweight but the teen was.
Pressuring kids to eat was more common when both parties were not
overweight, compared to pairs who were overweight or had differing
statuses.
Similarly, food restriction was most common for pairs that were both
overweight or obese, compared to those who were both not overweight
or who differed between parent and child, the authors reported in
Pediatrics.
Clare Collins, professor in nutrition and dietetics at The
University of Newcastle in Callaghan, Australia who wasn’t involved
in the new study, noted in email to Reuters Health that the surveys
were taken only at one time point so it is unclear from the results
if parent feeding practices go on to influence future eating and
weight status in the adolescents.
[to top of second column] |
“The problem with restricting food from a child or pressuring a
child to eat more is that prior research has shown that it may have
unintended consequences such as, a child becoming overweight or
obese, or engaging in disordered eating behaviors such as, binging
or purging,” Berge said.
“Rather than restricting or pressuring your child to eat, it is more
helpful for parents to make sure that there are a variety of healthy
food options in the home, or on the table, for children to eat and
then allow the child to decide how much they eat,” she said.
Having unhealthy food in the fridge and on the table and telling a
teen they cannot eat it is not helpful and sets up food fights,
Collins said.
But keeping unhealthy food out of the house in the first place does
work and helps keep harmony in your house, she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1JfhAUR Pediatrics, online August 24, 2015.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
