Parents' Influence On Children's Eating Habits Is Small, Study Finds

This one surprises me.

Parents' Influence On Children's Eating Habits Is Small, Study Finds:

"'Factors other than parental eating behaviors such as community and school, food environment, peer influence, television viewing, as well as individual factors such as self-image and self-esteem seem to play an important role in young people's dietary intake,' said May A. Beydoun, PhD, co-author of the study and a former postdoctoral research fellow at the Bloomberg School.

'Our findings have a number of important public health implications. In particular, the overall weak to moderate parent-child resemblance in food groups, nutrients and healthy eating index scores suggest that interventions targeting parents could have only a moderate effect on improving their children's diet."

Why such a surprise? Consider these other articles:

Fast Food As Family Meals Limits Healthy Food Intake, Increases Obesity Risk (Jan. 9, 2007) — Families whose meals frequently consist of fast food are more likely to have unhealthy eating habits, poor access to healthy foods at home and a higher risk for obesity, according to researchers at ... > read more

New Factor In Teen Obesity: Parents (Feb. 13, 2009) — Researchers have found that adolescents are more likely to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day if their parents do.