Do kids make parents less fit?

Associated Press

CHICAGO

Could kids be to blame for new parents’ bad health habits?

A study found that moms of young children were heavier and ate more calories, sugary drinks and fatty foods than childless women. Parents in the study were less active than their peers without kids.

Quick, easily prepared foods are often high in fat and calories. Parents who choose these foods may end up serving them to their children, perpetuating a cycle of unhealthy eating, the study authors said.

“This isn’t a study about blame,” said co-author Jerica Berge, a University of Minnesota researcher. “This is about identifying ... a very high-risk time period” for parents that doctors should be aware of so they can offer solutions, she said.

That may include diet advice, parent-child exercise classes, or just getting parents to take walks with their kids, researchers said.

The study involved 1,520 adults aged 25 on average, including parents with children younger than age 5. They were among more than 4,000 Minneapolis-area public-school students enrolled in a study in their teens; the new study includes those who took two follow-up surveys and answered questions about their diet and activity.

Results are online today in the journal Pediatrics.