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Distress experienced by mothers and fathers in the first few years of a child s life, particularly during infancy, is linked with accelerated weight and excess fat gain from age 5 to 14 years, according to new research being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) held online this year.
The findings also suggest that girls are sensitive to both mothers and father s self-reported distress during infancy; whereas boys seem influenced only by their fathers distress reported at 9-months. We know the first few years of life are crucial for healthy weight development, however we don t know exactly which psychological and social exposures during the early years put some children at greater risk of developing overweight in later childhood , says Kristiane Tommerup from University College London, UK, who led the research. Our findings underscore how a lack of social, mental health, and socioeconomic support available to parents may have long-term health implication
Babies who grow up with stressed parents are more likely to become obese children, a study suggests.
Children put on more weight between the ages of five and 14 if their father suffered from anxiety after they were born.
Girls’ weight also appeared to be affected by their mother’s worries but this had no impact on boys.
Researchers from University College London say more work is needed to establish the reason for the possible link.
But they warn stressed parents may overfeed their baby or fail to give them the freedom they need to move around.
Some of their concerns may brush off on their youngster, who could turn to comfort eating as a coping mechanism.
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New research presented at this year s European Congress on Obesity (held online, 10-13 May) shows that fat around the waist (abdominal obesity) is more important than general obesity as shown by body mass index (BMI) in predicting the severity of chest X-ray results in patients with COVID-19. The study is by Dr Alexis Elias Malavazos, I.R.C.C.S.Policlinico San Donato, San Donato Milanese, Italy, and colleagues.
Previous research has established that both chest x-ray (CXR) severity score and obesity are predictive risk factors for COVID-19 hospital admission. However, the relationship between abdominal obesity and CXR severity score is not fully explored. This retrospective cohort study analysed the association of different methods of measuring obesity, including waist circumference and body mass index (BMI), with CXR severity score in 215 hospitalised patients with COVID-19.
Vegetarians have healthier profile than meat eaters – study Vegetarians appear to have a healthier biomarker profile than meat eaters, according to a study of more than 160,000 UK adults.
The research by University of Glasgow, presented at this week’s European Congress on Obesity found the rule applied to adults of any age and weight, and was unaffected by smoking and alcohol consumption.
Biomarkers can have bad and good health effects, promoting or preventing cancer, cardiovascular and age-related diseases, and other chronic conditions, and have been widely used to assess the effect of diets on health.
Cross-sectional study
University of Glasgow researchers performed a cross-sectional study analysing data from 177,723 healthy participants aged between 37 and 73 years reporting no major dietary changes over five years. They were trying to understand whether dietary choice can make a difference to the levels of disease markers in blood and urine