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home / obesity / can parents help prevent childhood obesity?

can parents help prevent childhood obesity?

"you want something that is fast for dinner, you want to get kids in bed on time, then it starts all over again tomorrow and tomorrow after that. and that pressure will bring bad choices.”

by karen hawthorne
published jan 13, 2025
last updated feb 20, 2025
read time 8 minute read
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read time 8 minute read
join the conversation
parents need to get informed about healthy choices and make their meal plan for the week. otherwise, dr. julie st-pierre adds, “it’s going to be very easy to go for the fast-food options.”   getty images
the holidays are a great time while they happen, but then you realize how much sugar, chocolate and (in my house) almond brittle you’ve consumed. the same is true, and maybe even more so, for your kids. just think about all the things that they get and get into during the time off school.
while the extravagances of the season may be an exception, kids are exposed to more sugar and processed foods these days along with screen time which can add up to a lot less physical activity.
right now, about one in three kids in canada is either overweight or living with obesity—numbers have nearly tripled in the last 30 years—and parents need to play a role in prevention.

lifestyle and genetics in kids impact health in adulthood

dr. julie st-pierre, a pediatrician who focuses on pediatric obesity and researcher and professor at mcgill university in montreal, has lived experience with obesity. she’s keenly aware of how lifestyle and genetics add up to poor health in adulthood. she’s also determined to change outcomes for her patients and children across the country with her virtual programs that teach obesity science to healthcare providers.
even with emerging science creating a fuller picture of obesity, it’s highly complex. what we do know, she says, is that it’s a chronic disease with a documented 4,000 genes involved where every person is unique, given the number of combinations of all those genetic variants.
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“so, we are looking at more personalized medicine in obesity and it brings complexity. sometimes hormones are more important, sometimes genetics is more important or the environment, or a combination of physical activity, food and social determinants. it can be correlated to education, to poverty and to the colour of your skin. so, it’s very multifactorial and our physicians need to be aware of this.”
she also talks about the epigenetics of obesity, where our fat cells are programmed to store fat for energy in times of food scarcity. early humans would only eat once in a while, so biology isn’t on our side in modern society’s food abundance and convenience of food delivery services.
st-pierre’s mother lived with obesity and died of heart attack in her early 40s and her other family members died before age 50 because of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes associated with their obesity and unhealthy habits. “i decided to become a scientist. i wanted to discover the best molecule on earth to solve [obesity],” she says of her pursuit of research and insights into prevention and management of the disease.

structure and meal planning develop good habits and save money

while parents shouldn’t “panic” about obesity in their kids, there are steps to take, she says. for example, it’s easy for people to pause 2022年世界杯名单猜测 for vacations like the holiday break, but there should still be a structure to follow.
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“i go outside two times a day to walk my big dogs, so i’m always around parks and you know, the parks for two weeks during the holidays were empty,” she says. “so kids were in front of the tv inside the house instead of being outside playing with their peers. it’s sad because they quickly sink into the bad habits like being in front of the tv, skipping meals, eating crap, less sleep, so health is deteriorating during the holidays and the vacation breaks.”
as a researcher at the university of guelph told ctv news of shortening the summer school break, “physical activity [and having a] sleep schedule, all ties into diet and making good nutritional choices. what we do know from the research is that kids that do go to school for the full year, where they have smaller breaks instead of an 11-week break, they tend to have less weight gain in the summer.”
kids thrive in a structured activity schedule where there’s physical activity classes at elementary school and sports in high school, and outside activities like swimming or skating lessons. typically, kids walk to and from school as well. that structure is lacking during vacation periods.
however, no one’s suggesting that parents and their kids shouldn’t relax the usual routine during the holidays (and eat a few more cookies) but there can still be good habits to follow. st-pierre points out, “you’re just better to schedule things like playing with your computer, your video games, it’s going to be two hours every day and we’re going to make an agreement. it’s always from 4 to 6 p.m. and before that you need to go play outside.” when kids want to go to bed later and wake up later, that can work for vacation time, and you can still plan three meals a day and healthy snacks.
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what about the everyday? how can parents make a difference in preventing obesity when the next package of potato chips is always in your face?
it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, but structure and meal planning are key.
st-pierre sees all the pressures patient families face to cope with the demands of work, finances, rising food costs and more that parents juggle while trying to do the best for their children.
“people consume a lot of ultra-processed food because we are always in a hurry to get to the kids’ classes after school, to do the homework, to have a second job to make sure that we can pay for vacations and all that. real life is challenging for parents, and if you’re a single parent, it can be even more difficult. you want something that is fast for dinner, you want to get kids in bed on time, then it starts all over again tomorrow and tomorrow after that. and that pressure will bring bad choices.”

get informed and collaborate with your pediatrician

there are strategies to make better choices. you can put a frozen pizza in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, but it’s not much longer to put a piece of salmon with a lot of veggies on a tray into the oven and wait 20 minutes and it’s ready to eat. parents need to get informed about healthy choices and make their meal plan for the week. otherwise, she adds, “it’s going to be very easy to go for the fast-food options.”
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grocery shopping with a list and a plan is a good way to eat better, have better health for kids and be less stressed because you’re going to save time and money.
the first thing she advises parents to do is get informed. while there are magazines that tell us the best gifts and educational toys for our children, there is not as much information about food, physical activity and sleep hygiene available. those are three basic components of health.
“it’s not a specific advice that will change or be the main factor to develop obesity or not. it’s the accumulation of many suggestions that can be implemented gradually as the child is growing,” st-pierre explains. canada’s growth chart was updated in 2010 and it stands as one of the best tools for pediatricians to predict disease and help prevent health issues. she’d like to see parents ask questions and collaborate with their pediatricians about food, physical activity and mental health.
and it all starts very young for kids, with breastfeeding as an additional benefit to prevent obesity. parents who can’t breastfeed are advised to look for better milks without corn syrup that are now available. recommendations for physical activity start young as well where newborns should have 30 minutes a day with increments of time on their tummy.
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another big issue is sugar. “it starts with the birthday cake at age one and then in different cultures, people are happy to give candies and sweets every day as a sign of love, but the science is no longer there. we now know that before the age of two kids should not consume sugar.”
in one recent study published in the journal science, scientists investigated the long-term health effects of sugar exposure in the womb and early childhood by examining the health of adults in the u.k. who were conceived or born around the end of sugar rationing. the rationing started during the second world war when the amount of sugar allowed for each person was within today’s u.s. dietary guidelines. after rationing ended, sugar intake nearly doubled. children exposed to less sugar early in life had a lower chance of getting diabetes or high blood pressure decades later. and the researchers found that health benefits increased with longer exposure to rationing. for people with reduced sugar exposure for at least 19 months after birth, the risk of diabetes dropped by almost 35 per cent and the risk of high blood pressure dropped by about 20 per cent.

food labelling is tricky to navigate

one of the hurdles for advocates like st-pierre and for parents in canada is policymakers aren’t stepping up to protect kids’ health when it comes to food labelling regulations. health canada recommends little to no added sugars for children under two. but while there are strict limits on food additives and sodium for infants, there are no regulations on sugars. added to the mix is powerful marketing and packaging to attract buyers.
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“when a parent goes to the grocery store and gets one of the smooth purees for babies, 90 per cent of them are not good for babies because they’re smashed liquid that has no fibre remaining. the fructose is basically like white sugar. it should be forbidden to sell that for babies below the age of two. but there’s no regulation around that. on top of that, the packaging tells you this is a good source of vitamin d and c. it doesn’t contain added sugar, but it’s just transformed the fruit into sugar.”
she points out that real food doesn’t have a label and if you don’t buy juice or coca cola, you’re going to spend that money on something that is healthier. as parents learn to navigate food choices, they can impact the food industry. change is slowly happening with lower-sugar ketchup and the range of plain yogurt options, for example.
“we want the food industry to work with us instead of against us,” she says. “i want to educate every single parent across that country so that they can pick the best food for their kids and the best options for 2022年世界杯名单猜测.”
karen hawthorne
karen hawthorne

karen hawthorne worked for six years as a digital editor for the national post, contributing articles on health, business, culture and travel for affiliated newspapers across canada. she now writes from her home office in toronto and takes breaks to bounce with her son on the backyard trampoline and walk bingo, her bull terrier.

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