Obesity is NOT genetic - it's lifestyle
You may or may not be aware but BBC news recently published an article relating to this issue.
There is a strong link in obesity between mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, but not across the gender divide, research suggests.
The researchers believe the link is behavioural rather than genetic.They say the findings mean policy on obesity should be re-thought.
Researchers said it was "highly unlikely" that genetics was playing a role in the findings as it would be unusual for them to influence children along gender lines.
Instead, they said it was probably because of some form of "behavioural sympathy" where daughters copied the lifestyles of their mothers and sons their fathers.
It is because of this conclusion that experts believe government policy on tackling obesity should be re-thought.
Much of the focus so far in the UK - in terms of targets and monitoring - has been targeted at younger age groups in the belief that obese children become obese adults.
But the researchers said the assumption ignored the fact that eight in 10 obese adults were not severely overweight when they were children.
In fact, they said their findings suggested the opposite was true - that obese adults led to obese children, the International Journal of Obesity reported.
Study leader Professor Terry Wilkin said: "It is the reverse of what we have thought and this has fundamental implications for policy.
"We should be targeting the parents and that is not something we have really done to date."
We couldn't agree more! supermarkets will NOT remove highly processed, sugary foods and drinks off the shelves, the government won't stop them or other imports of such goods, they are enjoying the tax too much, but at what cost? surely the amount of money the NHS are spending on dealing with obesity and the symptoms that surround it such as asthma, chest pains, depression, infertility, hip and knee replacements, wheelchairs for morbidly obese and so on, they need to rethink the food quality provided in supermarkets.
The study took weight and height measurements for children and parents over a three-year period.
They found that 41% of the eight-year-old daughters of obese mothers were obese, compared to 4% of girls with normal-weight mothers. There was no difference in the proportion for boys.
For boys, 18% of the group with obese fathers were also obese, compared to just 3% for those with normal-weight fathers. Again, there was no difference in the proportion for girls.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: "This is telling the government that they now have to look for a new direction.
"We have to make sure parents are in a good condition to bring up their children in a normal manner."We would like to add that they need to be educated better and not told that salad is the only option for weight loss, especially where growing children are concerned.
He said he wanted to see more interventions like the one introduced this year offering vouchers to pregnant women for "healthy food" such as milk and fresh fruit and vegetables and multi-vitamins to children and mums-to-be. . The new vouchers will be worth £2.80 each. Qualifying pregnant women and children over one and under four will get one voucher every week, and children under one year old will get two vouchers a week. Vouchers can be spent with participating retailers - including small businesses and milkmen as well as larger supermarkets and chemists.
Around 20,000 individual retailers across the UK have already signed up to participate in Healthy Start, more than had signed up to the Welfare Food Scheme. Retailers include food co-operatives, box schemes, markets, greengrocers and milk roundsmen as well as supermarkets and chemists.
Are vouchers really the answer? Do they teach you what is healthy? The vouchers offer free milk (most likely skimmed) no eggs or other dairy and no meat, pregnant women need at least one of those options. The multi-vitamins they offer are cheap and full of additives, colours and flavourings, it is common knowledge that they are overstocked, a good way for retailers to get their money back!
The Department of Health insisted it was already targeting parents through the Change4Life campaign, which was launched at the start of the year and brings together a host of local healthy lifestyle initiatives.Yup, you guessed it, It's the same dietary guidelines they have been around for years that obviously don't work, the great government food plate! cut back fat and eat salad! Do you think they will ever consider the opposite? Would make sense wouldn't it, that's how it was done before people became obese. Starving your body from good fats and eating a heavy carb diet with sugary drinks is obviously the cause.
A spokesman added: "The obesity epidemic is one of the most challenging public health issues we face."
Maybe if we went back to the diets before the wars, before sugar was introduced and other such sweeteners and chemicals then we might notice a change in our children again.
Links:
Full Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8144376.stm
Voucher scheme: http://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/en/fe/page.asp?n1=1&n2=8&n3=29
Change4life: http://www.nhs.uk/Change4Life/Pages/default.aspx
