London - Stressed parents are more likely to have obese children, a study has warned.
Children whose parents have high levels of stress have a Body Mass Index, or BMI, about two percent higher than those whose parents have low levels of stress.
They also gained weight seven percent faster than other children, the Canadian study claimed.
Researcher Dr Ketan Shankardass, from St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said: “Childhood is a time when we develop inter-connected habits related to how we deal with stress, how we eat and how active we are.
“It’s a time when we might be doing irreversible damage or damage that is very hard to change later.”
Dr Shankardass said it was not clear why the link between stress and obesity existed.
He said parents might change their behaviour when they were stressed, buying more ready meals or junk food to save time rather than preparing healthy meals. The study was published in the journal Pediatric Obesity. - Daily Mail