A University of Iowa study finds having children in the house could be hazardous to an adult’s waistline.
The study found adults living with children eat more saturated fat — the equivalent of an entire pepperoni pizza every week — than adults who don’t live with children.
Dr. Helena Laroche, a U-of-I professor of internal medicine and pediatrics who is the study’s lead author, says adults with children ate one-point-seven grams of saturated fat more per day, about a slice of pepperoni pizza per day, or about a full pizza more every week.
“Some of this may have to do with time pressures of taking care of a family, but also there could be (the) advertising aimed at children, the children bring things like potato chips into the home and then they’re around for everyone,” she says.
Laroche says adults with kids living in the home may have to work a little harder to avoid packing on extra pounds. “We can do simple things like choosing lower-fat snacks like low-salt pretzels, fruit, carrots,” she says. “We can think about how we’re cooking by not using butter, lard or solid-stick margarine, things like baking in olive oil. And if you’re going to eat fast food or pizza, try to limit it to once a week or less.”
The study will appear in the January 4, 2007, online edition of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
Laroche recommends several websites for healthy food information including the American Heart Association at www.americanheart.org, the American Academy of Pediatrics at www.aap.org/healthtopics/nutrition.cfm and the U.S. Department of Agriculture at www.usda.gov” — click on the “Food and Nutrition” section.
Related web sites:
American Heart Association
American Academy of Pediatrics
USDA