MANHATTAN, Kan.—What parents make available for their children to eat can contribute to an obesity-prone home food environment, according to researchers at Kansas State University.
"Many people view healthful eating and physical activity as an individual responsibility, but research says that we tend to eat what is available," said David Dzewaltowski, professor and head of the department of kinesiology at Kansas State. "So, for adults, we are driven by what is available and marketed by the food system. For children, parents are the gatekeepers of what is available at home and what out-of-home options are provided."
Richard Rosenkranz, assistant professor of human nutrition at Kansas State, is a former doctoral student of Dzewaltowski and worked under his guidance to compose a model of different components that contribute to an obesity-prone home food environment.
Their work, "Model of the Home Food Environment Pertaining to Childhood Obesity," appears in the March 2008 Nutrition Reviews journal.
The research found three types of influential environments—political and economic, built and natural, and socio-cultural. In the political and economic environment, the study found that factors like food pricing and family socioeconomic status affect the dietary lifestyle in the home. In the socio-cultural environment, the researchers found that parenting styles can affect children's food choices. In the built and natural environments, the researchers found that larger plates, bowls, cups and serving utensils can promote a greater consumption of food.
The healthy choice is not always the easy choice. "There are very powerful forces at work beyond the home that can have an overwhelming influence on what a parent does to provide things for children," Rosenkranz said.
He added there are some simple changes parents came make in the home to prevent their child from being overweight, such as having regular family meals with fruits and vegetables and no soda, while saving junk foods for occasions like trips to the movies or restaurants. Parents also should make healthy options like fruits and vegetables easily accessible, like having vegetables readily prepared for snacking and a fruit bowl.
