Childhood body mass index is unlikely to have a significant impact on children’s mood and behavioral disorders, one researcher said. study Posted in eLife.
The results suggest that some of the previous studies that have shown strong associations between childhood obesity and mental health may not fully account for family genetics and environmental factors. increase.
Obese children are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the nature of the relationship between obesity and these mental health conditions is unclear. Obesity may contribute to mental health symptoms and vice versa. Alternatively, the child’s environment may contribute to both obesity and mood and behavioral disorders.
“We need a better understanding of the relationship between childhood obesity and mental health,” said lead author Amanda Hughes. “This requires separating the contribution of child and parental genetics from the environmental factors that affect the entire family.”
Hughes and colleagues examined genetic and mental health data from 41,000 8-year-old children and their parents from the Norwegian Mother-Father-Child Cohort Study and the Norwegian Medical Birth Register. They evaluated the relationship between children’s body mass index (BMI) (weight-to-height ratio) and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and ADHD. To help separate the effects of child genetics from the effects of other factors affecting the entire family, they also described parental genetics and BMI.
The analysis found that the child’s own BMI had minimal effect on anxiety symptoms. There was also conflicting evidence as to whether the child’s BMI affected her depressive symptoms or her ADHD symptoms. This suggests that policies aimed at reducing childhood obesity are unlikely to have a significant impact on the prevalence of these conditions. seems small.For older children and adolescents, it can become more important,” said Neil Davies, a professor at University College London, UK.
When we examined the effect of parental BMI on children’s mental health, we found little evidence that parental BMI affected ADHD or anxiety symptoms in children. The data suggested that a higher her BMI at the mother might be associated with depressive symptoms in the child, but there was no association between the mental health of the child and her BMI at the father. There was little evidence that there was
“Overall, parental BMI appears to have a limited impact on children’s mental health. Consequently, interventions to lower parental BMI have broader benefits for children’s mental health. is unlikely to result” Institute of Public Health, Norway. Havdahl, professor of epidemiology and medical statistics at Bristol Medical School, is co-lead author of the study, alongside Neil Davies and Laura Howe.
“Our results suggest that interventions designed to reduce childhood obesity are unlikely to significantly improve mental health in children. Policies that target environmental factors and directly target the mental health of poor children will be more beneficial,” concludes Hughes.
