Career mothers 'risk fat children'
Updated on 23 July 2007
Working mothers are putting their children at a greater risk of obesity, a new study has found.
Children from the highest-earning homes, where the combined annual income is £33,000 or more, are at the greatest risk of obesity, according to the study.
Researchers found a direct correlation between working mothers and obese children.
The offspring of mothers who work long hours have less access to healthy foods and physical activity and are more likely to be found in front of the television set, the study suggests.
The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, revealed that lack of time, and not lack of money, is the most significant factor in childhood obesity.
Children are more likely to be overweight for every 10 hours a mother worked. This risk increases in the highest-earning families.
The study was carried out by the UCL Institute of Child Health. It looked at 13,113 three-year-olds and interviewed their parents when they were aged nine months and three.
Researchers found that 24% of the children of the 7,629 mothers who worked were overweight. These mothers worked an average of 22 hours a week and had worked on average for 27 months after their child's birth. Of these, 28% admitted they did not spend enough time with their child because of work.
More than two-thirds of the mothers were white, with 40% in managerial roles.
The working patterns of fathers were not considered to have a significant effect on childhood obesity.
These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.
