Obesity Is Due to Mom and Dad... "Parents' Weight and Income Level Affect It"

16 Years of Tracking and Research on 4,052 Students
No Difference in Parental Education Variables for Male Students

A study has revealed that parents' socioeconomic status is related to whether their children are obese.

On the 27th, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's National Institute of Health published the 'Pediatric Obesity and Metabolic Disease Cohort (KoCAS) Report' aimed at preventing obesity among children and adolescents in Korea.

The National Institute of Health conducted a 16-year longitudinal study from 2005 to 2020, tracking 4,052 students to investigate factors influencing the occurrence of obesity and chronic diseases and to establish a foundation for obesity prevention and management.

As a result of a survey targeting 1,504 first and fourth-grade elementary school students, it was found that parents' body mass index, frequent snack consumption, lack of sleep, frequency of exercise, and low household monthly income acted as predictive factors for changes in students' body mass index.

A survey conducted among sixth-grade elementary school students in Gyeonggi Province and parts of Seoul showed that among sixth-grade girls, the lower the parents' educational level, the higher the risk of being overweight. Additionally, the higher the parents' socioeconomic status, the more significantly fruit consumption increased. In contrast, no differences were observed among boys based on parents' educational level.

The research team explained, "Low parental socioeconomic status is associated with children's undesirable eating habits and poor diet quality," and emphasized that "proper nutrition education and policies are needed for groups with low socioeconomic status."

Metabolic syndrome, characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of abdominal obesity and hypertension, was also found to be related to parents' medical history and the family's socioeconomic status. A six-year follow-up analysis of 1,309 children and adolescents aged 6 to 15 without metabolic syndrome revealed that 410 (31.3%) developed metabolic syndrome.

These individuals were already overweight or obese during childhood, had parents with a history of cardiovascular disease, usually slept less than 8 hours, or belonged to families with relatively low socioeconomic status.

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