Adults Living with Children Eat More Fat

Filed in archive Studies on January 2, 2007

A study from the University of Iowa and University of Michigan Health System, based on data from the federal government's National health and nutrition Examination Survey III, suggests that adults living with children eat more saturated fat (equivalent to almost an entire frozen pepperoni pizza each week) than adults who do not live with children.

While already many family diet studies have been have looked into how adults influence the children's eating habits, few have considered how children or their habits may be associated with the adults' eating habits.

According to Helena Laroche, M.D., an associate in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the study's primary author:

"The analysis shows that adults' fat intake, particularly saturated fat, is higher for those who live with children compared to adults who don't live with children.

The study doesn't prove that the presence of children causes adults to eat more fat; people living with children may have different eating habits for many reasons.

However, an important implication of the study is that healthy changes in eating need to focus on the entire household, not just individuals. Health care professionals must also help families find ways to fit healthy foods into their busy lifestyles."

This particular study has just been made public and will appear in the Jan. 4, 2007, online edition of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

Find more details from the press release.