A traditional family routine may be the answer to obesity

Published on Monday 8 February 2010 21:40

FAMILY life as it used to be lived a generation ago can help prevent obesity in pre-school children, a study has shown.

Researchers found four-year-olds had a reduced risk of becoming seriously overweight if they ate dinner with their siblings and parents, got a lot of sleep and had their television viewing rationed.

Children who followed these routines were almost 40 per cent less likely to be obese than those from less disciplined households.

The link was seen in children with and without other risk factors for excessive weight.

Study leader Dr Sarah Anderson, of Ohio State University in the United States, said: "The routines were protective even among groups that typically have a high risk for obesity. This is important because it suggests that there's a potential for these routines to be useful targets for obesity prevention in all children."

Each routine on its own was associated with lower obesity, but their effect was greater when combined.

Scientists analysed data collected as part of a major health study on 8,550 US children born in 2001.

The researchers focused on three particular family routines: eating an evening meal as a family more than five times a week, getting at least ten and a half hours' sleep a night, and watching fewer than two hours of television per day on weekdays.

Children were categorised as "obese" if their body mass index (BMI), based on height and weight measurements, was in the top 5 per cent of figures cited in recognised growth charts.

In total, 18 per cent of the children studied were considered to be obese under this definition.

Among four-year-old children whose families practised all three routines, the prevalence of obesity was 14.3 per cent.

In contrast, almost one in four of children living in households with none of the routines was obese.

The study, published in the journal Paediatrics, suggested adopting just one of the routines could lower a child's risk of becoming obese.

"I imagine people are going to want to know which of the routines is most important: is it limited TV, is it dinner, is it adequate sleep?" said Dr Anderson.

"What this suggests is that you can't point to any one of these routines. Each one appears to be associated with a lower risk of obesity, and having more of these routines appears to lower the risk further."

Previous research had suggested that children are more likely to be obese if their mothers were severely overweight, their household income was below the poverty level, their mothers left school early and they were growing up in a single-parent home.

"Our research suggests that these routines may have the opportunity for impact," said Dr Anderson.

"And they may help families move beyond the discussion of eating and exercise to other aspects of behaviour and biology that have potential to be linked to obesity."