Mom's Feeding Habits Tied to Kids' Body Fat

Feb. 22 -- Should parents pressure their kids to be members of the "clean plate club"? Experts say that when it comes to food, too much interest in what's on your child's plate can be a bad thing.

A new study, published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, finds that a mother's approach to feeding may have some unintended consequences on her kids' body fat.

Researchers measured the body fat mass of 120 African-American and white children who were between the ages of 7 and 14. They also gathered information about maternal feeding practices assessing how mothers monitored food intake, pressured their children to eat, restricted certain foods or took responsibility for feeding, as well as their concern about their child becoming overweight and being forced to diet.

While the connection remains unclear, the study found that a mother's concern about her child being overweight and her pressure to get the child to eat were directly related to the child's total fat mass. Mothers who were concerned had fatter children, whereas mothers who pressured their kids to eat had children who were skinnier.

"The big problem is chicken and egg," says Donna Spruijt-Metz, assistant professor of research in the department of preventative medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. "Were these kids getting fat because the mother was concerned, or were the kids fat and therefore the mother became concerned?" Or similarly, were mothers pressuring their skinny children to eat because they were too skinny, or were the kids skinny because they were being pressured to eat?

What Moms Think Matters

The two feeding behaviors accounted for 15 percent of the difference in total fat mass, more than could be accounted for by how many calories the children ate.

While the study does not address why they are related to fat mass, there are some interesting possibilities.

"We found that really the most important thing related to a child's fat mass was what mom was thinking about her own child's weight," says Spruijt-Metz. "We can say from the data that we have here — and because we have seen many similar results — that regardless of the chicken or egg question, the compelling concern is not helping your kids lose weight. … However they got there, it's not working."