Chilhood obesity rises in line with family income

British researchers say children from wealthy middle class homes are more likely to be overweight or obese than those from poorer backgrounds.

The findings by researchers from the Institute of Child Health at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital to some extent dispel the myth that the poorest families have the worst diets as they suggest that the risk of obesity is greatly increased in line with family income.

The researchers put this down to the rise in the numbers of highly-paid working mothers - who are often forced to leave a child in the care of a nanny or a nursery who take over control of the child's diet and physical exercise.

Other suspected factors include a high consumption of snack foods and sweetened drinks, long hours spent watching television and low rates of breastfeeding which has been found to prevent obesity.

The researchers examined a total of 13,113 children aged 3 years who born between 2000 and 2002 in the United Kingdom, who had complete height/weight data and parental employment histories.

The parents were interviewed when the child was aged 9 months and 3 years, and the child's height and weight were measured at 3 years.

Being overweight, including obesity, was defined by the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs.

The study found that children from families with an income between £22,000 and £33,000 were 10 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese than those from families with an income of less than £11,000.

When the family income was £33,000 or more, children were 15 per cent more likely to be overweight than the poorest children.

Health experts say the results are a wake-up call to middle class families who very often assume their children are living healthy lives and shows that obesity is an issue that affects middle class families as well as low income groups.

The study showed that by the age of three, 23 per cent of children were overweight and this was were more likely to be the case if their mother had taken up any work since their birth.

The researchers found that long hours of work by the mother, rather than lack of money, may have an impact on young children's access to healthy foods and physical activity.

The researchers say having a working parent with less time could increase a child's consumption of snack foods and/or increase television use and children were more likely to be overweight if the mother reported that she 'did not spend enough time with her child because of work'.

The study found children in childcare were more likely to be overweight or obese than those cared for by their mother or her partner and school-age children, whose mothers worked were less likely to eat healthily than those whose mothers were full-time homemakers.

The researchers said even though breastfeeding had been found to protect children from becoming overweight in this study and others, returning to work early discouraged many women from starting or continuing to breastfeed.

No link was found between the number of hours worked by the children's father, or mother's partner, and weight problems.

There has been a mixed reaction to the study findings with some experts saying there is a danger of raising a generation of young people with a much shorter life expectancy than previous generations.

Others believe believed the main factor is 'poor parenting' regardless of whether the parents were working or not and say obesity is a nationwide epidemic that affects people from all different backgrounds and is not just a middle class issue affecting those with working mothers.

An earlier study by the Food Standards Agency found the food eaten by the poorest 15 per cent in society was little different from the average which also suggests that poor eating choices were far more widespread than previously suspected, affecting many wealthy families.

The study is published in the International Journal of Obesity.