Children with emotional difficulties at higher risk for adult obesity

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/bc-cwe090909.php

Public release date: 10-Sep-2009
Contact: Charlotte Webber
BioMed Central
Children with emotional difficulties at higher risk for adult obesity

Previous research has shown that low self-esteem and emotional problems are found in people who are overweight or obese– but not which influences which. Research published today in the open access journal BMC Medicine, sheds light on this issue showing that children with emotional difficulties are at higher risk for obesity in adult life.

Andrew Ternouth, David Collier and Barbara Maughan from the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, studied data from around 6,500 members of the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study who, as 10 year-olds, had been assessed for emotional problems, self-perceptions and BMI, and who reported on their BMI again at age 30. The researchers found that children with a lower self-esteem, those who felt less in control of their lives and those who worried often were more likely to gain weight over the next 20 years. They also found that girls were slightly more affected by these factors than boys.

Ternouth said: "While we cannot say that childhood emotional problems cause obesity in later life, we can certainly say they play a role, along with factors such as parental BMI, diet and exercise"

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