The greatest risk factor for children to suffer from obesity is overweight parents, as per various medical school researchers. A study finds that the children of obese parents are more likely to be clumsy and would have trouble in solving problems.

Obesity has always been associated with a number of poor health conditions but quite lately, the researchers have proposed that the negative effects can transcend generations. The parental obesity puts the development of their children at a high risk.

Both Parents Responsible

The researchers from the NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development published a study in the journal Pediatrics. It proved that not only the mother’s pre and post pregnancy weight has a lot to do with the development of the children but the father’s weight is also a significant influence on it.

The study included 5,000 mothers from the New York state who gave birth between 2008 and 2010. The children were tested at 4 months of age and then at 3 years of age in order to receive a definitive assessment of their tests.

Development Delays

As compared to the children having normal weight mothers, those with overweight mothers had 70 percent more chances of failing the test indicator of fine motor skills at 3 years of age. It is unclear how obesity causes such development delays in children but animal studies have proved that obesity is responsible for promoting inflammation during pregnancy.

Lack of Social Skills

Children who have obese fathers are 75 percent more likely to fail the social skills tests which indicate how well they can communicate with others by the age of 3. On the other hand, children with the same age having both obese parents were thrice as likely to fail the test.

The Risk of Dangerous Diseases

According to the American Obesity Association,the pediatricians are reporting more recurrent cases of obesity-related diseases like type-2 diabetes, hypertension, asthma in children. This is an alarming situation because these are dangerous diseases which were once considered to be adult conditions.

The research and various studies indicate that one in every five pregnant ladies in the US is overweight. Thus, there is a dire need for such people to focus on their health and adopt healthy eating habits or hire a certified personal trainer to achieve a normal body weight.