New study shows obesity runs in the family

Norwegian research finds individuals are six times more likely to be living with obesity in middle age if both their parents lived with obesity at that age.

The study, which will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity in May, was based on over 2000 parent and offspring participants, who originally participated in the ongoing population based Tromsø Study.

Lead researcher Mari Mikkelsen, based in the Department of Community Medicine at UiT Arctic University of Norway said: “Previous research shows a strong association between parents’ and their children’s obesity status, but few studies have investigated whether this intergenerational transmission of obesity continues past adolescence and into adulthood.”

“We were interested in how parents’ BMI is related to their offspring’s BMI when the offspring is well into adulthood and has lived away from home for a long time.”

Key findings included a strong link between parents’ BMI and obesity status in middle age and the status of their offspring at the same age, with the study concluding that if both parents had obesity in middle age, their children had six times higher odds of living with obesity themselves upon entering middle age.

The study also indicated that even if just one parent was obese the risk still increases three-fold.

However, researchers concluded that it isn’t clear if this increased risk is down to genes or the environment in which they grew up.

Mari Mikkelsen added: “Whatever the explanation, our finding that obesity transmission between generations can persist well into adulthood, which underlines the importance of treating and preventing obesity, a condition that contributes significantly to ill health and premature death.”