TRIP

Moms' bossiness at snack time tied to kids' weight

Reuters Health News, 2012

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A row of candy bars manufactured by Hershey is seen in a vending machine in Washington June 17, 2008.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mothers who push their toddlers to eat more at snack time may end up with a heavier child, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that when moms were overly "intrusive" during their young children's snack time, their kids tended to be a bit chubbier by the age of 3.
It's not clear whether parents' pushiness actually leads to excess weight gain in their preschoolers.
It's thought, she explained, that parents may end up "overriding" their little one's ability to listen to the body's natural "satiety signals" -- the brain's way of telling you to stop eating.
A number of studies have pointed to links between parents' "controlling" behavior at meal time and their children's risk of being overweight.
But one problem with those studies is that they relied on questionnaires that essentially ask parents if they're pushy at the dinner table.
To do that, the researchers had 1,218 moms come to the research lab, then videotaped them during a 10-minute snack with their child.
Overall, moms who were most "intrusive" during the snacks tended to have heavier kids -- even when factors like family income and race were taken into account.
Lower-income and minority children generally have a higher risk of obesity than white, middle-class kids and studies have found that their moms also tend to be more controlling at meal time, the authors note in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.