Controlling attitudes and food reward causes obesity in children research confirms

Most children of the 70s and 80s probably already know from experience that rewarding children with food is an unhealthy attitude.

Now researchers from Aston University have concluded a study which confirms that using overly controlling feeding patterns or using food as a reward may make children more likely to eat emotionally in later childhood.

Researchers led by Dr Claire Farrow from Aston University and Loughborough and Birmingham University carried out a longitudinal study of how parents were feeding their children at age 3 to 5 years of age. They followed up the same children at age 5 to 7 years to find out if they way they approached food reflected their parents feeding methods.

The results are ideal for sharing with the overbearing mother-in-law who won’t listen. Because yes, emotional eating does result from controlling parents and food reward methods.

Dr Claire Farrow confirms that eating patterns can be tracked across a child’s life. She says: “As a parent, there is often a natural instinct to try and protect our young children from eating ‘bad’ foods: those high in fat, sugar or salt. Instead we often use these food types as a treat or a reward, or even as a response to ease pain if children are upset. The evidence from our initial research shows that in doing this, we may be teaching children to use these foods to cope with their different emotions, and in turn unintentionally teaching them to emotionally eat later in life.”