Juggling the daily demands of parenthood is causing new parents, particularly mothers, to eat more and exercise less, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota interviewed over 1,500 young men and women on matters concerning dietary intake, physical activity, and body-mass index (BMI). About 150 of the particpants were parents of children aged five years or less.
Although the results, which are published in the journal Pediatrics, indicated that many of the dietary behaviours observed by the researchers were the same between parents and nonparents, mothers reported a greater consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and saturated fats compared to women without children. Moreover, both mothers and fathers engaged in physical activity less frequently than their childless counterparts.
“These findings are important because young adults may continue these behaviors into adulthood, putting them at risk for obesity,” the study’s authors write. “In addition, the modeling of poor dietary intake and physical activity may influence children’s health behavior.”
Researchers note that future studies are needed to understand how parents’ diet and activity habits are associated with having older children and how parents’ health habits may change as their children grow older.
In the meantime, however, researchers encourage healthcare practitioners to regularly engage new parents in discussions on nutrition and physical activity.
“Providers may find benefit in talking with new parents about their personal barriers to eating healthy and being physically active, and work with them to identify ways to overcome these barriers and incorporate physical activity and healthy eating into their new lifestyle,” the authors write. “New parents may be particularly receptive to ideas to increase their physical activity and healthful dietary intake that allows them to model healthful behavior for their children, such as attending parent/child exercise classes or going for walks together.”
For more information on finding and keeping a healthy body weight, please visit our section on Health and Wellness.
Joel Tiller
writer/editor
AboutKidsHealth