Kids Less Likely to Be Obese When Dad Is Active Parent Fathers' hands-on involvement tied to lower BMI in young children

Young children whose fathers were more involved in "physical childcare tasks," such as bathing and dressing them, were less likely to be obese, a researcher said here. Greater involvement of fathers in such tasks was associated with less risk of childhood obesity from age 2 to age 4, reported Jessica Jones-Smith, PhD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and colleagues. The researchers also found that the inverse was true -- that the less the dad was involved in taking care of the child, the greater the risk of childhood obesity. There was a trend towards increased risk of childhood obesity when fathers were less involved with meal preparation. more involvement from the fathers may simply be indicative of a more stable household, which would lead to more healthy behaviors. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ObesityWeek/61235?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2016-11-05&eun=g721819d0r&pos=0