A new study revealed that considering culture differences in childcare is important in infant obesity prevention. This finding is intended to remind families of different races and ethnicities to start leading healthier lifestyles.
Researchers led by Eliana Perrin, M.D., a pediatrician and professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine concluded that certain practices that promote childhood obesity, like putting infants to bed with bottles and feeding them while watching television, were usual practices in home of families in some races and ethnicities.
In the study, they recruited 836 parents who will bring their two-month old infants to university-affiliated pediatric clinics for a preventive services visit. During their visit, the parents were interviewed about the behaviors linked to childhood obesity in a past study, while the infants' physical activity levels were measured. They also looked at the unhealthy behaviors by races and ethnicities.
The questions were about the food taken by the infants, how it was handed to them, what activities parents do during mealtime.
After that, they found that no race was free of the bad habits; however, some were common in specific cultures.
Black parents were twice as likely to put their infant's to bed with a bottle and more likely to prop bottle using blankets, instead of holding it compared to Hispanic parents. Hispanic parents, on the other hand, were more likely to wheedle their infants to finish their milk and to prop bottles compared to white parents.
Moreover, about 25 percent of black parents, 16 percent of white parents, and less than four percent of Hispanic parents had already introduced solid foods t their infants.
Hispanic Infants, on the other hand, watched TV for an average of 11 minutes a day, white infants watched TV for 24 minutes a day and African-American infants watched for 51 minutes a day.
The researchers hope that experts will include their findings in the improvement of infant obesity program.
"Rather than focus on the ethnic and racial differences, these results show us that we can all do better and begin our efforts to prevent obesity earlier in life," said Perrin to Reuters.
Further details on this study can be read in the March 17 issue of Pediatrics.
