A study published today by the Science Daily presents results stating that, "Parents with a high number of stressors in their lives are more likely to have obese children, according to a new study by pediatric researchers." This study was published by Elizabeth Prout-Parks, M.D., who specializes in nutrition at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia.
The factors that she believes are among parental stressors include: "poor physical and mental health, financial strain, and leading a single-parent household." This study forms the conclusion that because parents may be more stressed they do not want to spend time preparing a meal for their children. The one downfall of this study is that it is the only one that has found a connection between parental stress and child obesity.
Bringing it back to Fort Collins, the Compass of Larimer County presents statistics regarding the number of single women with children who are living in poverty. As of 2010, about 23% of single women with children under 5 are living in poverty and 21% of single women with children under the age of 18 are living in poverty.
Since the study presented in the Science Daily was not done here in Fort Collins, we cannot conclude that the poverty statistics and obesity are related. However, we can conclude that this poverty is a growing problem and that it could eventually lead to an increase in child obesity based on results by Prout-Parks.
No comments:
Post a Comment