1. Research proves that Children whose mothers stick to healthy lifestyle practices are less likely to be obese than children of less healthy moms.
2. Living a healthy lifestyle can not only help adults to improve their health and reduce their risk of developing chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, obstructive sleep apnoea, and heart attack but also can exert health benefits to their offspring.
3. Mothers have a powerful influence over their children’s lifestyle choices, but it’s unknown whether healthy lifestyle patterns in mothers influence the development of obesity in their children.
4. Researchers found five low-risk lifestyle factors: healthy diet, body mass index in the normal range, not smoking, light to moderate alcohol consumption, and engaging in moderate or vigorous physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week.
Individually, each maternal lifestyle factor except healthy diet was associated with a significantly lower risk of obesity in offspring.
5. The risk of obesity in offspring decreased with each additional lifestyle factor in mothers, such that children of women who followed three low-risk behaviours (healthy diet, physical activity, and light to moderate alcohol consumption) were 23 %less likely to be obese, compared with children whose mothers did not have any low-risk factor.
6. Children of mothers who had all five low-risk factors were 75 % less likely to be obese than children of mothers who had none of the low-risk lifestyle factors.
7. Moms’ healthy lifestyles did not necessarily translate into children’s healthy lifestyles in this study, but when they did, offspring had an 82 % lower risk of being obese, compared to when mothers and children had high-risk lifestyles.
Mothers and parents in general should consider improving their lifestyle early on to maintain good health for themselves and the next generation.