Working mothers’ kids more likely to be obese
By IANSFriday, February 4, 2011
LONDON - Kids whose mothers work long hours tend to put on weight after missing out on healthy meals, a research has found.
Researchers say that for every 10 hours a week a mother works, the weight of their children increases by an average 1.5 percent.
Childhood obesity has grown enormously since the 1960s in the US with an estimated 14 percent of boys and 17 percent of girls in the age group 2-15 being obese, the journal Child Development reports.
The new research in the US found that it was statistically connected to women going to work, according to the Telegraph.
Researchers at American University, Cornell University and the University of Chicago used data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, looking at 900 children who lived in 10 cities across the US.
They found that the total number of years mothers were employed had a small but cumulative influence on their children’s weight as it lead to an increase in the likelihood of being overweight.
Every six months of work undertaken by a mother added approximately one pound in weight to their child.
