Britain’s child obesity crisis cannot be blamed on parents, who wage a losing battle at the dinner table to keep their children from becoming overweight, genetic research suggests.
A study that looked at 4,500 pairs of twins born in England and Wales between 1994 and 1996 suggests that parents make efforts to restrict the diets of children who are genetically predisposed to become overweight, limiting how much and what they are allowed to eat. Offspring genetically predisposed to be skinny were urged to clear their plates.
The researchers said the study challenged the idea that Britain’s child obesity epidemic could largely be blamed on irresponsible parenting. They suggest that parents react to a child’s propensity to gain weight. NHS figures suggest that about one in
