Irish study finds father and son obesity link

OBESE fathers are over three times more likely to have an obese child than fathers with a healthy weight, according to a new Irish study.

New research published in this month’s Irish Medical Journal revealed 19% of nine-year-old Irish children are overweight, while 7% are obese.

The authors said their findings suggest ‘a strong positive relationship between fathers’ weights and his children’s weights’.

They said: ‘At a minimum, this data suggests tackling overweight and obesity in the child should occur simultaneously with tackling overweight and obesity in the parents: in this study, the fathers.’

Using data from the Growing Up In Ireland study, the researchers from University Hospital Limerick and the Medical School in the University of Limerick examined data from more than 6,000 Irish fathers with an average age of 42.

They found 9.4% of obese fathers had an obese son, compared to 2.5% of fathers with a healthy weight and 3.8% of fathers classed as overweight.

The study also discovered Irish fathers’ perception of their own body image didn’t tally with their BMI classification. It was found that 7% of obese father described themselves as ‘about the right weight’ while almost half (46.7%) of obese dads classed themselves as ‘slightly overweight’.