Mothers fail to recognise obesity in their children, especially in daughters

One in five mothers do not realise that their young children are overweight or obese.

And mothers are more likely to be unaware of the weight problem if the child is a girl.

The NUI Galway study found that mothers who fail to correctly identify their child’s obesity at age three are likely to do so again when the child is five years old.

25% of three-year-olds and 20% of five-year-old children are overweight or obese in Ireland.

The study suggests that health professionals and public health campaigns may need to play a greater role in helping mothers correctly identify their child’s weight status.

It found that 22% of mothers failed to accurately identify that their child is overweight or obese at age three.

The figure decreased to 18% when the child was aged five.

The study, published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, used data from the Longitudinal ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ study.

NUI Galway Study Finds Low Awareness of Early Childhood Obesity in Ireland https://t.co/weK97Vo5rg pic.twitter.com/8q4576ii4M

— Ollscoil na Gaillimhe | University of Galway (@uniofgalway) August 1, 2018

Data was collected from 10,000 families of children aged three years and 9,000 families of children aged five years.

Among the key findings is that childhood obesity is disproportionately characteristic of low-income families.

“Developing tailored intervention programmes for the formative, pre-school cohort could prove to be a beneficial strategy to change attitudes and promote awareness of obesity in children within lower socioeconomic groups,” it states.

The failure to identify someone who is overweight or obese may be particularly evident for three- to five-year-olds, because the prevailing health message to mothers of young children is to encourage growth and keep pace with development charts.

The issue of identification may be further clouded by the increased prevalence of obesity in children defining a ‘new’, heavier norm against which parents compare their children.

Meanwhile, another study has found that a higher measure of belly fat in older adults is linked with cognitive impairment.

Researchers showed that a higher waist-to-hip ratio was associated with reduced cognitive function.

This could be explained by an increased secretion of inflammatory markers by belly fat, which has been previously associated with a higher risk of impaired cognition.

The finding was based on data from the Trinity, Ulster Department of Agriculture (TUDA) study.

The cross-border collaborative research project gathered data from thousands of elderly adults on both sides of the border.

Previous studies have shown that people who are overweight do not perform as well on tests of memory and visuo-spatial ability, compared to those who are of normal weight.

However, until now, it was not well-known if this was true in older adults.

It is a matter of concern, as half of the over-50s population in Ireland is classified as being centrally obese, with only 16% of men and 26% of women reported to have a body mass index within the normal range.

The senior study author, professor in medical gerontology at Trinity, Conal Cunningham, said the study added to emerging evidence, suggesting that obesity and where we deposit our excess weight could influence our brain health.

“This has significant public health implications,” he said.

The study was led by St James’s Hospital in Dublin, in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin and University of Ulster, Coleraine.